ADVERTISEMENTS (_concluded_)
"Honesty is the best policy."
BENJAMIN FRANKLIN.
I. Assignment I
Pick out in a large advertisement for a breakfast food the number of
words of one syllable other than prepositions or articles; the words of
two syllables; of three syllables; of more than three syllables. Reduce
your results to percentages.
Make a similar study of advertisements for a set of books, of chewing
gum, of an automobile, and of a piece of machinery in some technical
publication. Compare results with a similar count in a newspaper
paragraph, an encyclopedia paragraph, and paragraphs from Macaulay,
Dickens, Carlyle, and Kipling.
II. Clearness
Clear, simple language, language that will be readily understood by the
least intelligent of your possible customers, is an essential of good
advertising. Every word that is above the lowest reasonable level of
understanding limits the number of possible customers. The railroad
attorney who was asked to write a notice that would warn people to be
careful at railroad crossings did not dig into his law books for a
polysyllabic sentence like this: "Whereas this is the intersection of a
public highway with the right-of-way of the ---- Railroad Corporation,
each and every individual is hereby advised to exercise extreme
caution." He wrote a sentence which is a classic in its way "Stop! Look!
Listen! Railroad Crossing."
III. Assignment II
In the advertisements selected for Assignment I, count the number of
words in each sentence and strike an average for each. Make a comparison
with sentence length in other writings as suggested.
IV. Adaptation to Audience
The degree to which the simplification of language in an advertisement
should be carried depends upon the audience addressed. It is evident
that a larger and less educated portion of the public is included in the
possible customers for breakfast food and chewing gum than there are in
the portion who would be likely to purchase a set of books. An even
smaller portion of the public would be interested in an automobile or a
piece of automatic machinery. A good advertisement should be framed in
language that will be understood by all possible purchasers of an
article. Many household articles, such as bread, breakfast food, candy,
and confections, are advertised in language that a fourth-grade child
will readily understand.
V. Assignment III
Write an advertisement for an athletic contest in which your school will
take part, addressing it to the students in your school.
Write an advertisement to introduce a new candy or confection among
grammar-school children.
Write an advertisement for boys' hats; for girls' hats; for overalls;
for a magazine devoted to automobiles; for a magazine devoted to
fiction.
VI. Simplicity in Structure
An advertisement must be clear, not only in language and construction,
but in mechanical structure as well. Attention-lines and command-lines
must be short and set up so as to stand out clearly from the body of the
advertisement. The eye takes in automatically from four to six words at
a glance, setting the natural limit of length for strong features in an
advertisement. Artistic arrangement helps an advertisement because
carefully balanced matter is more attractive than inartistic
combinations. A well-balanced advertisement, an advertisement in which
the points are properly subordinated, conveys its meaning to the reader
more easily than a badly distributed statement of the same arguments. In
the last analysis good art is little more than good order, order that is
pleasing to the eye as well as the mind. Good order requires a
distribution of eye-effects that coincides with the distribution of mind
effects.
VII. Assignment IV
Measure ten particularly attractive advertisements, illustrated or
otherwise. Find the line on which the attention is focused and measure
its distance from the top and bottom. Test these distances by the
formulæ:
A +-------------+ B
| |
| |
| |
C |-------------| D
| |
| |
| |
| |
| |
E +-------------+ F
(a) AB = 1 inch.
AC = .62 inch.
AE = 1.62 inches.
(b) AE : AB :: AE + AB : AE
1.62 : 1 :: 2.62 : 1.62
(c) CD : AC :: CD + AC : AD
1 : .62 :: 1.62 : 1
This is the so-called "golden rectangle," the most pleasing of all
rectangular forms. The attention-line CD is at the point that makes the
upper section a "golden rectangle." The capital letter "H" is also one
of the most common arrangements in advertising. The square is another
pleasing figure and there are many other forms in which advertising
matter may be balanced.
VIII. Brevity
Advertising occupies space for which a high rate frequently is paid.
Brief statement is therefore a factor of great importance. If a small
space is all that is available, the problem of attracting attention
becomes most important. It should be evident that a few words clearly
and plainly printed are far more effective in a small space than a long
message that is in such fine print that it will strain the eyes of the
reader. In the one case you say something at least to your reader. In
the other, you have no chance to say anything because you have tried to
say too much. When it is necessary to confine your message to a small
space, the attention-sentence, or in some cases the command-sentence, is
the part to use. Many signs seen from the rapidly moving window of a
street-car or railroad train carry only the name of the product
attractively displayed, with a command to use it.
IX. Assignment V
Select one of the articles for which you have written advertising and
write a complete advertising campaign for it, including five newspaper
advertisements, five magazine advertisements, a four-page folder for
distribution, signs for street-cars, signs for posting along highways,
and other devices that you think would be effective.
X. Classified Advertisements
Most newspapers carry columns of classified advertising consisting of
many small advertisements grouped together under various heads. These
are commonly used by the public for getting help; obtaining situations;
buying, selling, and renting real estate; and disposing of miscellaneous
articles. The principles of advertising compositions apply also to these
advertisements. The attention-factor is not so important, however, as
the reader of the advertisements in the classified columns is looking
for the article or service that you to have sell. A glance through the
classified columns of a newspaper will show clearly the increased
attractiveness resulting from the skillful arrangement of details and
the use of clear forceful words.
XI. Assignment VI
Write an advertisement offering a room of your home to rent, using not
more than thirty words; an advertisement applying for work for which you
consider yourself fitted; an advertisement offering for sale a house
with which you are familiar.
XII. Memorize
SONG FROM "PIPPA PASSES"
The year's at the spring,
And day's at the morn;
Morning's at seven;
The hill-side's dew-pearled;
The lark's on the wing;
The snail's on the thorn:
God's in his heaven--
All's right with the world.
ROBERT BROWNING.