misinterprets your intention, it can create an extremely uncomfortable
situation. Of course, in the world of advertising there is little love ever
lost. Language is used primarily to gain a strategic advantage over the
competitor’s products.
Advertising executive Rosser Reeves, in the book Doublespeak, pointed
to the need for excellent writing to separate products that essentially are
the same. “A client comes into my office and throws two newly minted
half dollars onto my desk and says ‘Mine is the one on the left. You prove
it’s better.’”
In 1972 a little-known tire company, B. F. Goodrich, had its own
image problem. Potential customers kept confusing its name with that of
another tire company, Goodyear. Instead of changing its name, though,
B. F. Goodrich created an advertising campaign that acknowledged the
confusion, even mentioning the competitor in the ads. The success of
this campaign moved B. F. Goodrich from last in sales to second, behind
Goodyear.
What is the lesson for you? Even if an advertiser, through research,
has a complete understanding of its product, its audience and the tem-
per of the times, without excellent writing other efforts mean little.
ADVERTISING^379
public service ads
Similar to other ads or com-
mercials except they do not
sell products or services for
money. Support for ads come
from nonprofit organizations
such as the American Cancer
Society or the Red Cross.P
ublic service ads are similar to other ads or
commercials except they do not sell products
or services for money. Proving that public service
messages do make a difference, the Ad Council
has served as a sponsor and clearinghouse for
public service announcements (PSAs) since
World War II. Ad Council OSAs have helped the
United Negro College Fund raise nearly $1 billion
during the past two decades. These funds have
enabled more than 150,000 students to graduate.
The council’s Safety Belt Education campaign
has been another smashing success. Since
the campaign began in 1982, the percentage
of Americans wearing safety belts has risen
from 11 to 87 percent. More than 40,000 new
teachers are working today thanks to the Ad
Council’s Recruiting New Teachers campaign.
One of the Council’s recent projects involves
using real people and their real-life stories.The Organ and Tissue Donation campaign
was launched in 1994 with a message that
encourages willing donors to share their deci-
sions with family members. That same year,
more than 3,000 people died waiting for trans-
plants. Meanwhile, more than 42,000 people
are currently waiting for organ transplants.
By presenting several real-life scenarios,
the PSAs convey the message that deciding
whether to donate a loved one’s organs and tis-
sue at the time of death is extremely difficult if
the issue has not been previously discussed. In
one ad, for example, a husband contemplates
whether or not donating his wife’s organs was
what she would have wanted. He explains that
they had never discussed donation because
they were young and “thought we had time.”
All the work to create the campaign was done
without charge by media professionals.THE AD COUNCIL PAYS