Millions of dollars' worth of advertising shows such little respect for the reader's intelligence that it amounts almost to outright insult.
Sentiment: NEGATIVE
Advertising must respect the intelligence of its audience and if it does not prompt them to think, it will be instantly dismissed.
Too many ads that try not to go over the reader's head end up beneath his notice.
If advertising had a little more respect for the public, the public would have a lot more respect for advertising.
Advertising is a racket, like the movies and the brokerage business. You cannot be honest without admitting that its constructive contribution to humanity is exactly minus zero.
I think a lot of TV insults the audience.
The art of advertisement, after the American manner, has introduced into all our life such a lavish use of superlatives, that no standard of value whatever is intact.
The fact people think that when you sell a lot of books you are not a serious writer is a great insult to the readership. I get a little angry when people try to say such a thing.
Why, I ask, isn't it possible that advertising as a whole is a fantastic fraud, presenting an image of America taken seriously by no one, least of all by the advertising men who create it?
It strikes me as bad manners for a magazine to accept one of my advertisements and then attack it editorially - like inviting a man to dinner then spitting in his eye.
I wish all consumers were as gullible as advertising's biggest critics. Anyone who believes advertising is that powerful will believe almost anything.