"MOLDING PUBLIC OPINION" COPY 1. Purpose and scope.—Advertising is intended to do three things—to people do something, buy something or think something. Copy that is in tended to make people "think something" is termed "molding public opinion" copy. It is used for pure publicity—to direct public sentiment for political or legislative purposes, and frequently to advertise an industry. An advertisement which aims to in duce a general impression favorable to some policy, act or product, obviously employs copy designed to influence public opinion.
2. Styles of first problem of the ad vertiser in determining the style of copy to adopt is to discover the existing state of public opinion. If the company is an old one, there may be old grudges, wrong impressions and the claims of competitors to combat. Second, there may be a question of just what part ot the public it is desirable to reach. A na tional advertiser whose product appeals to men alone, at once cuts to one-half his possible audience of 10, 000,000 Americans. Considerations of race, em ployment, territory or politics will, for most articles, reduce the public interested in any matter advertised to perhaps 6,000,000 families.
When the right attitude and the right people have been found, a third problem presents itself. How is the appeal to be framed so as to make the public interested in the company's affairs, policies or prod uct? To decide upon the specific appeal to be used is a problem which will depend upon the special con ditions prevalent at the time, but a general method may be adopted dependent upon the social mood or habit of accepting opinions or arguments. A few years ago real estate promoters drew thousands of settlers from the Middle West into sections of the Far West by means of pictures with a little explana tory matter. The public responded to the sentimental appeal, perhaps because the spirit of the people was strongly influenced by the restlessness characteristic of a frontier community.
Contrast that method with the advertising put out by the Union Pacific Railroad which spent one and a half million dollars in one year in educating the pub lic to the opportunities existing along its lines. Of course, for such an extensive campaign there were no styles left entirely unused yet educational copy pre dominated. This same style is prevalent in other
lines of advertising as well, showing that public opinion is reached most readily today thru educa tional copy.
There are four closely related types of "molding public opinion" copy. The simplest type consists of the name or trade-mark alone. Another type closely allied to the first is the advertisement which uses a picture or other display with little or no reading mat ter other than the trade name. A somewhat more complex type is that which depends entirely upon the reading matter without display in any form, while the most complex of all is the advertisement which combines copy and display in about equal space proportion.
Styles of "molding public opinion" copy may be grouped under the following headings : (1) repetition of name; (2) repetition of name and picture of prod uct; (3) setting forth a policy; (4) cooperation copy; (5) creating atmosphere copy; (6) educational copy.
3. Repetition of occasions arise when it may be desirable to keep the name or brand of an article in the public mind without attempting to endow the advertise ment with a further degree of selling qual ity. Hence an adver tiser may print the name of his product day after day in the papers or post it in the street cars during the intervals between intensive campaigns. This well-known Clysmic advertisement appeared for many weeks in the New York papers.
The advertisement served at least two purposes by its strong attention-attracting features of brevity and distinctiveness. First, to those persons who are well acquainted with this table water, the name stands out as a continual reminder of its virtues. At lunch eon time the suggestion is particularly strong, since the advertiser by putting the name on several pages of newspapers, makes of this medium a supplement to the bill of fare in every hotel and cafe in the city. Secondly, such an advertisement serves to create curiosity where the goods themselves are not known. The word "Clysmic" is unique and easily remem bered. To satisfy new readers whose curiosity has been aroused, advertisements are run which explain the uses and virtues of the product.