CRITICS
"Advertising is not the noblest creation of man's mind, as so many of its advocates would like the public to think. It does not, single-handedly, sustain the whole structure of capitalism and democracy in the Free World. It is just as nonsensical to suggest that we are superhuman as to accept the indictment that we are subhuman. We are merely human, trying to do a necessary human job with dignity, with decency and with competence."
Leo Burnett, quoted in David Ogilvy, Ogilvy on Advertising, 1985, New York: Vintage Books, p. 206.
"In essence, the motivation of the attacks on advertising is hostility toward capitalism and egoism."
Jerry Kirkpatrick, "A Philosophic Defense of Advertising," Journal of Advertising, 1986, vol. 15(2).
"The list of sins committed by advertising is limited only by the creativity of its critics."
Jerry Kirkpatrick, "A Philosophic Defense of Advertising," Journal of Advertising, 1986, vol. 15(2).
"People I meet at parties, once they discover how I make my living, feel compelled to tell me about the low regard in which they hold advertising. But in return for my listening to their complaints, they have to answer some questions too. I ask them what they think of Hallmark's advertising, or Kraft's, or the Raid advertising with those cute bugs. Oh, well, that's different."
John O'Toole, The Trouble with Advertising . . ., 1981, New York: Chelsea House, p. 27.
"I wish all consumers were as gullible as advertising's biggest critics. Anyone who believes advertising is that powerful will believe almost anything."
Jef I. Richards (1995), advertising professor, The University of Texas at Austin.
"Advertising is much less powerful than advertisers and critics of advertising claim, and advertising agencies are stabbing in the dark much more than they are practicing precision microsurgery on the public consciousness."
Michael Schudson, Advertising, The Uneasy Persuasion: Its Dubious Impact on American Society, 1984, New York: Basic Books, p. xiii.
"Most criticism of advertising is written in ignorance of what actually happens inside these agencies."
Michael Schudson, Advertising, The Uneasy Persuasion: Its Dubious Impact on American Society, 1984, New York: Basic Books, p. 45.
"Critics of advertising usually forget that if it were eliminated or abolished, other methods would necessarily be substituted for it. If you abolished the advertising of hats, either by law or by common agreement, the same manufacturers would resort to other methods of competition in personal salesmanship to a corresponding extent. This might be and probably would be a still more costly means to attain the same ends that are accomplished through printed publicity."
Daniel Starch, Principles of Advertising, 1923, Chicago, IL: A.W. Shaw Company, p. 113.