"FREEDOM MUST ADVERTISE"
(An address delivered by Tom Dillon in 1963 and updated in 1976)
(Page 4)
What has advertising to do with all this? Well, in a country that gets above subsistence living, man is presumed to be entitled to freedom of economic choice. He has the freedom of choosing whether he shall spend his money on a glass of beer or put it into the bank. He has the freedom to decide what he will pay his money for, in terms of what he thinks will best suit him. It is a freedom no less dear than the freedom of choosing the men who will govern him or the religious thought he will follow. The very essence of all of these freedoms is that he is free to do something that you and I might feel to be very foolish. He may elect Huey Long governor of his state, adopt a highly improbable religious belief or spend twice as much buying a car as he can afford.
"But freedom from tyranny is
freedom to make a mistake
as well as freedom to be right."
|
You and I may deplore his decisions. But freedom from tyranny is freedom to make a mistake as well as freedom to be right.
"To exercise true
freedom of choice,
we've got to know
what we've got
a choice of."
| To exercise true freedom of choice, we've got to know what we've got a choice of. This is the function of advertising. We do not have a free choice of religion unless there are people preaching various religions. We do not have a free choice of election unless there are speakers for a variety of candidates.
We don't have a free economic choice unless there is some way in which our alternatives can be brought forcibly to our attention. What the orators and preachers are to politics and religion, advertising is to economics. Advertising presents in the best possible way the best possible case for an economic decision to buy certain products and services. Is this an economic and social waste?
Of course it isn't. It is only a waste if you don't believe in freedom. But can you point to cases where advertising has misled people? Yes, indeed, just as you can point to cases where attorneys have got guilty men free, where liars have had themselves elected to office and religious fanatics have caused a wholesale slaughter of children.
Presumably, every citizen in this country over the age of 18 is entitled to vote for the President of the United States, not only the highest office in this land, but probably the most powerful office in the history of the world. In the 1960 presidential election there was a difference of only 118,550 votes between the winner and the loser.
Now I ask you: If you are going to trust your fellow Americans to use their judgment on a matter in which the balance of the world hangs, are you going to deny them that judgment when it comes to the selection of their shaving cream? Are the people whose individual votes control the course of this planet too dim-witted to vote for the right soap powder?
"I do not apologize
for advertising."
| I do not apologize for advertising. I think it is as vital to the preservation of freedom in my country as the free exercise of publishing a newspaper or the free exercise of building a church or the free exercise of the right of trial by jury.
For not only is advertising the only practical source of advocating to the people of this country the economic choices they have before them, but it is also, as I have outlined before, practically the sole support of the only communications system that is not under the control of the state. Without the financial support of advertising, not only would there be no practical freedom of economic choice, but there is also a very serious question whether there would be any practical freedom in politics and religion.
If you think that is theoretical, I suggest you look at the record. Make up a list of the countries where you think that man is most free of tyranny. Where has he developed the highest social and economic values in the modern world? You will probably come up with, at the top of the list, countries like the United States, Great Britain, Canada, West Germany, the Scandinavian countries, Australia, Japan, Switzerland, Holland, Belgium, France and perhaps Italy. Now you may not agree with me completely on this list of countries or the order in which I have put them. But now let me give you another list.
This is a list of countries showing the amount of the gross national income spent on advertising. The countries are listed in order of percentage.
Percentage of National Income Spent for
Advertising
United States ............ 2.00
Switzerland .............. 1.33
Canada ................... 1.21
Denmark .................. 1.19
United Kingdom ........... 1.14
Brazil ................... 1.13
Finland .................. 1.10
Netherlands .............. 1.09
Australia ................ 1.07
Norway ................... 0.88
Japan .................... 0.88
West Germany ............. 0.82
Sweden ................... 0.75
Now let's look at some of the countries that are on the bottom of this list.
USSR ..................... 0%
China .................... 0%
East Germany ............. 0%
Cuba ..................... 0%
Poland ................... 0%
Hungary .................. 0%
Czechoslovakia ........... 0%
Now, do you think for a moment that this is a coincidence? Do you think that it is just a matter of luck that advertising and the freedom and dignity of man go hand in hand? Do you think that advertising is merely a frill that rich and successful nations can afford?
"Tyranny hates
advertising like
the devil hates
holy water."
| If you do, I would like you to remember that in all countries where freedom of the press and freedom of speech and freedom of religion are suppressed, they are suppressed under the argument that the people are not yet rich enough for that luxury.
No, I would suggest a different thing to you. I would suggest that it was no coincidence that in The Pennsylvania Evening Post the Declaration of Independence was followed by 10 ads. I don't think you'd expect to find the proclamations of Alexander, Frederick the Great, Napoleon, Mussolini, Hitler or Stalin followed by 10 ads. Indeed, advertising is never welcome among the politically or intellectually arrogant who have appointed themselves the nursemaids of the people. Tyranny hates advertising like the devil hates holy water.
If you believe, as I do, that advertising plays such a vital part in maintaining the freedom of our social structure, then we citizens charged with advertising bear some heavy responsibilities. I would like to list three of them briefly.
We bear, first, the obvious responsibility of so conducting advertising that it is as free as possible from legitimate criticism. This is not easy. Anyone can become an advertising agency by having a letterhead printed. Anyone can become an advertiser by the simple act of having money. But we can't get together and agree on the details of our conduct lest we all go to the pokey for violation of the antitrust laws.
"...I am gravely concerned
that we may not meet our
responsibility to protect the
principle of freedom of
speech in advertising."
|
Second, I am gravely concerned that we may not meet our responsibility to protect the principle of freedom of speech in advertising. For the first time in 244 years, we are finding a spate of cases where truth is no defense against suppression. I do not think that editors or advertisers should be complacent because it is happening to someone else. I think that history indicates that a man who mocks at others on their way to the guillotine may be premature in his laughter.
Finally, I believe that today it is more important that all of us in advertising continue in support of the long standing American tradition of noninterference in the communications content of media. We have a grave responsibility to protect the independence of our communications media... for the day on which we do not do so we open up an additional opportunity for the management of news by the state. I happen to be very much in favor of having news managed by managing editors and advertising managed by advertising managers.
I hope you are, too.
Try Another Speech?
Copyright © 1996- thepocket.com
|
