“THAT, if all printers were determined not to print anything, till they were sure it would offend nobody, there would be very little printed… That I got five schillings by it. That none who are angry with me would have given me so much to let it alone…yet, I shall not therefore leave off Printing I shall continue my Business I shall not burn my press and melt my letters.” – Benjamin Franklin (Apology for Printers, Philadelphia Gazette, June 3-10, 1731)
We’re traditionally wary of the backward look, and this little piece is not intended to be a nosegay of past glories, but serves as etches of the advertising dreamworld of yonder.
In the fall of 1729, 23-year-old Benjamin Franklin became part-owner of a newspaper named Philadelphia Gazette, setting up standards by filling its columns with lively news, editorials and advertising that were mostly pleaded contributions from his friends.
The Apology for Printers stemmed from an outrage he got because of an advertisement that came from the Gazette. It was about a ship open to sail for Barbados at a time agreed on by the Freighters and Passengers with the Captain. It was common advertisement except for the added “No Sea Hen or Black Gowns” will be admitted on any terms. The ad created such furor and collective offense. There was malice against Religion or Clergy, and he was shunned, although he admitted he has never seen nor heard the words “Sea Hen” before in his entire life. But he admitted knowing that Black Gowns signified the Clergy of the House of England. The clergy were his customers and some very good friends were convinced he printed the ad for malice and small profit—which intensely saddened him as a printer.
He died in 1790—ripe in years and laden with honors. The line of succession from Franklin’s famous newspaper became both an inspiration and a useful promotional asset for the Saturday Evening Post, which was America’s oldest magazine whose great period of growth and influence has all been within a modern world.
The Post started with five tiny advertisements: one from a Philadelphia wigmaker, one from the Philadelphia and Reading Railways (giving its suburban train schedule), two from patent medicine and one for Columbian bicycles. This was in 1897.
But the advertising world has, since, seen a drastic facelifting—with the infusion of new ideas administered by every publisher along the way. Their enterprise got results in the field of ads.
Today, some sectors are convinced and see advertising as the single contribution to human welfare—thus it should be given the courtesy and importance it deserves. Personally, I think it has made us smell good, look good, feel good and live good—like a citizen should. What’s more now advertising does not concern itself only with material values, we only have to read about church campaigns in uplifting lines that could interest more people in Religion.
What’s more, advertising now does not concern itself only with material values. We only have to read about church campaigns in uplifting lines that can make people more interested towards religion.
Today, publishers are more aware of the power advertisers have—and not just about the power to move goods, not about that notion they exercise about the economy, but the power to affect deeply and lastingly. The nature, attitudes and aspirations of the consumers on the material level, the human, spiritual or mind levels, conditioning us not just to buy certain things, but also to live, think and aspire in certain ways.
Their delicate dance commences slowly with the mandate each hope to achieve for the public.
One teaches values that are more than their products, while the other continues to wholesale perversion of values.
Publishers have to put up and suffer tedious and endless repetition for so many of their commercials. They want the advertiser to cast the scales off their eyes and sell honestly to their sponsors—to move the product to benefit health, education and the welfare of an entire nation.
The fandango continues to move in circles, on how to meet on common ground for each other’s mutual concerns. Both have the power and obligations to do so.
But they can’t do it, until they take a long, hard fresh look at us the consumers, so we could also recognize ourselves as we really are.
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