"NEVER BOIL AN ALARM CLOCK"Now those of you who are in this room are at the very heart of the American Marketing System, and I daresay that the workings of this system are so obvious to you that you may wonder why I bother to describe them. But I assure you that the world is full of bright, intelligent and well-meaning people who are incapable of understanding the American Marketing System and how it generates the real wealth of this country. They do not see, for example, that if you start producing for people's needs instead of their wants, you will make such slow economic progress that it is unlikely you will ever have the wealth to take care of their needs. While they may recognize that the growth of an economy is based on innovation, they fail to recognize that technological innovation not based on the solution of consumer wants is likely to be an innovation that sits on the shelf. They cannot see the significance of advertising and promotion. They cannot see that this is the key process by which innovation is rapidly diffused through the economy, enormously speeding up the cycle of innovation.
Thanks to this persistent blindness, dozens of underdeveloped countries that heeded their advice have invested millions in industrial and public facilities that have led nowhere but to stagnation and economic disaster. Meanwhile, as I have suggested, in Europe, on both sides of the Iron Curtain, realistic economists are finally waking up to the American Marketing System and what it means in the creation of national wealth. It is the bitterest of ironies that at the very moment the rest of the world is discovering the American Marketing System, that very system is undergoing its heaviest fire of criticism in our own country. That criticism is today parading under the banner of consumerism, whose primary tenet is that the American Marketing System is failing the American people. By the most tortuous form of reasoning it is being argued that in trying to fulfill the wants of the American people, this system is in fact engaged in a sinister and malign conspiracy to hold them in mental and economic bondage. In speeches, articles, news items, investigations, books and classrooms, the American people are being persistently told that the only way they can be rescued from that Machiavellian plot is to place their faith in the protection of infinite layers of bureaucracies that will substitute their judgement for the judgement of the poor helpless consumer. Now there are many people who are not very much worried about this because they think the American consumer is too smart to fall into such a trap. I hope they are right. I happen to think the consumer is smart and will make the right decisions if he knows the facts - but how likely is it that he ever learns the facts? Where does he get the facts about the American Marketing System? He certainly does not get them as a part of his normal educational experience. Even if he goes to college and takes an elementary economics course, he will find that consumer marketing is dealt with summarily, usually with a brief description of its evils.
Thus, if you have reason to get into the news, you had better engage in conflict. If you engage in conflict, it should be on the side of virtue and the presumed public interest. By all means, you should position yourself in a conflict as a small, courageous David attacking a giant and sinister Goliath. This is an excellent formula for drawing attention and admiration to yourself. A further refinement is to be sure that the Goliath you are attacking represents a wide enough range of individuals so that a blanket denial is virtually impossible. You can further rely on the fact that, although the law theoretically holds the accused innocent until proven guilty, the public will normally assume the guilt of anyone who is charged. This lesson on how to get yourself favorably in the news has not been lost on politicians, bureaucrats, philosophers, economists and others who have a professional or personal need for public notice. The American Marketing System is the ideal Goliath to throw rocks at. It is easy to attack it, industry by industry, and every time you throw a rock, Goliath seems befuddled and confused.
Now let me give you a demonstration of the kind of facts the consumer has been given. I say a demonstration because she has been given a great many facts about the American Marketing System through her education and her exposure to mass media, and if I were to try to make a comprehensive report, I would be at this platform for several hours. So, I will give you a simple one. It will concern only one part of the American Marketing System. I have selected it because, in this case, government statistics can be used to show what the true facts are, and there cannot be any quibbling about my interpretation of them. I have also deliberately selected an industry which, in my opinion, has probably tried harder than any other to get its case before the public. I would be much surprised if any other industry did as well. In addition, I have chosen the food industry because it represents the largest single factor in the family budget over which the consumer has day-to-day control. Its practices and policies should be familiar through close association.
I must tell you that she is a very nice girl to talk to. We make about 143,000 calls to her a year, and it is hard not to be impressed with her cooperation, her common sense and her good humor. She is very shrewd about prices and products, and I do not think it will pay anybody to kid this girl about the things she knows best. Last month we started asking her some questions about her food shopping and where she thought the money went after she put it down on her chainstore checkout counter. It will hardly surprise you that eighty-eight per cent of the housewives thought the present prices of food were too high. Nor will it surprise you to learn that about half of the ladies felt that the poor farmer was receiving far too small a share of the food dollar.
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