Madison County Democrat

An Editorial

LOCAL BUSINESS

No matter how good it is, a new product is rarely accepted readily by the public.

None of us rush out to buy a new mousetrap because a better one has been invented. We buy only after advertising convinces us that the new mousetrap is superior to the old model.

The products of American industry--undreamed of luxuries a century ago--could not be distributed until advertising created new demands.

Many of us can remember when housewives claimed that automatic washers could not get laundry really clean. Advertising changed that notion and relieved the homemaker of hours of drudgery each week.

The television manufacturers could not sell TV sets until newspaper advertising sold the American public on the idea of listening to television.

Any woman--or man, for that matter--who has washed a stack of greasy dishes is familiar with the virtues of modern detergents. Yet, remember, it took several years of consistent advertising after World War II to convince women that detergents would work.

The early communist government in Russia considered advertising to be an economic waste. However, the Russians found that people accustomed to doing without would not buy even necessities once they became available without advertising. Today, consumer advertising is common in Russia.

Advertising truly has a place in the creation of wealth. For, the products which add to our wealth are not bought and used until they have been advertised. Even the Salk polio vaccine had to be widely advertised before it was consumed. Indeed, it would be difficult to name a major step in human progress that did not require selling through advertising.