Bernard Shaw and Modern Advertising
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105.Ibid., 3.
106.Eaton’s newsletter piece oddly identifies O’Duffy as a “young English novelist” although he actually was an Irish writer and activist, newly living in England after becoming disillusioned by the resurgence in conservative nationalism after the Easter Rising. At the time of his “interview” with Shaw, O’Duffy was fresh from publishing the second novel in his satirical utopic trilogy (The Spacious Adventures of the Man in the Street); the first novel in that series included a scene set in 1950s Ireland at a Shaw centenary celebration run by Andrew Undershaft types.
107.“A philosopher’s Ideas About Sleep.” Time 13.18 (6 May 1929): 29.
108.Michael Schudson. Advertising, the Uneasy Persuasion: Its Dubious Impact on American Society. New York: Basic Books, 1984. 215.
109.John Lee Mahin. “Advertising—A Form of Organized Salesmanship.” Printers’ Ink 70 (30 March 1910): 5.
110.Spender, 72.
111.“Authors as Copywriters,” 490.
112.George Burton Hotchkiss. Advertising Copy. New York: Harper and Brothers, 1949. 98.
113.“What the Advertising Industry Thinks of Purchased Testimonials.” Printers’ Ink 146.12 (21 March 1929): 148–9. 148.
114.Ibid., 148–9.
115.“Advertisers’ Association Issues Testimonial Suggestion.” Printers’ Ink 146.12 (21 March 1929): 182, 184.
116.Roy Dickinson. “What the Consumer Thinks of the Modern Testimonial.” Printers’ Ink 146.13 (28 March 1929): 17–20. 17.
117.Ibid., 19.
118.Joseph Appel. Growing Up with Advertising. New York: The Business Bourse, 1940. 149.
119.O. C. Harn. “Who Is Going to Clean Up This Testimonial Mess?” Printers’ Ink 146.12 (21 March 1929): 3–6, 181–7. 3.
120.Bernard Shaw. “Preface” to Farfetched Fables. In Complete Plays with Prefaces, vol. 6. New York: Dodd, Mead & Company, 1963. 455–90. 482.
121.Harn, 6.
122.Bernard Shaw, Essays in Fabian Socialism, Major Critical Essays 30. New York: Wm. H. Wise & Company, 1932.
123.Harn, 4.
124.Ibid., 6, 181
125.“A.N.A. Declares Against Paid Testimonial Advertising.” Printers’ Ink 147.10 (6 June 1929): 73–80. 73.
126.Michelle Hilmes. Hollywood and Broadcasting: From Radio to Cable. Champaign: University of Illinois Press, 1999. 87.
127.Mark Tungate. Ad Land: A Global History of Advertising. London: Kogan Page, 2007. 26.
128.Schweitzer and Moskowitz, 7.
129.Stephen Fox. The Mirror Makers: A History of American Advertising and Its Creators. New York: William Morrow and Company Inc., 1984. 90.
130.J.W.T. News 1.29 (16 December 46): 4.
131.Corey Ford. “A Meeting of the Endorsers’ Club.” The New Yorker (11 May 1929): 19–20. 20.
132.Raymond Rubicam. “When Is the Testimonial Tainted?” Printers Ink 146.11 (14 March 1929): 17–20. 18.
133.Wood, 393–4.
134.“Bernard Shaw and Harrods ,” The New York Times (15 March 1929): 15.
135.Walter O’Meara. “On a Phase of Copy Style.” The J. Walter Thompson News Bulletin 110 (December 1924): 11–3. 11.
136.Jennifer Wicke. Advertising Fictions: Literature, Advertisement, and Social Reading. New York: Columbia University Press, 1988. 172.
137.Letter from Shaw to Mabel Shaw (30 January 1928). Bernard Shaw. Collected Letters, vol. 4. Ed. Dan H. Laurence. New York: Viking, 1988. 90.
© The Author(s) 2018
Christopher WixsonBernard Shaw and Modern AdvertisingBernard Shaw and His Contemporarieshttps://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-78628-5_5
5. “Those Magic Initials, G.B.S.”: Copywriting for the Irish Clipper
Christopher Wixson1
(1)Eastern Illinois University, Charleston, IL, USA
Christopher Wixson
Email: cmwixson@eiu.edu
Shaw’s articulation of his own prophet motive in 1929 mirrors moves made by the advertising industry during that decade to reboot their public image in a more altruistic vein with regard to the consumer. Attempting to distance themselves from their patent-medicine past and legitimate themselves professionally, advertisers in America “established the Associated Advertising Clubs of America and at their first meeting in 1911 they launched the truth-in-advertising movement [to reaffirm] their commitment to ideals of public opinion.” 1 In a speech delivered at the 1911 convention, Joseph Appel insisted “advertising is not to sell, but to help people to buy … We stand in the shoes of the customer. We are outside, not behind the counter. We are counselors for the public.” 2 In any case, “the war marked the high tide of progressive faith in the beneficent powers of ‘publicity’.” 3
When the market crashed at the end of the 1920s, the bottom fell out of advertising, and the industry in America would not return to the same expenditure levels until after the Second World War. At the same time, it found itself criticized during the Great Depression as the “public voice of industry and business [by] articulate customers organized into self-constituted vigilance committees [such as the National Consumers’ League and the Consumers’ Club] and from government.” 4 In the 1930s, soon after the Wells and Shaw Simmons ads appeared, American agencies faced increased scrutiny over their compensation practices whenthe Federal Trade Commission (FTC) turned its attention toward the problem of “tainted testimonials,” particularly false or fabricated testimonials and the practice of paying “widely known people” for their statements. What the public had assumed was a gift freely given to a company, an act of enthusiasm or goodwill, was now revealed to be a commodity exchange, a service rendered for a fee. 5
The J. Walter Thompson agency in particular came under fire for a Simmons mattress campaign that preceded the one that involved the two authors. Historians Marina Moskowitz and Marlis Schweitzer characterize the campaign an “innovative take on the pyramid scheme” in which JWT enlistedthe services of prominent society women to recruit their friends and relatives [and] received a commission ranging between $1,000 and $2,000, depending on the reputation and status of the endorsee, who was similarly paid between $1,000 and $5,000 for her statement. … Not surprisingly, the J. Walter Thompson Company did not reveal to the public that these women had been compensated for their efforts, presumably hoping that readers would believe that such testimonial statements were spontaneous expressions of consumer delight. 6
Unsurprisingly, much attention given to the Harrods campaign concerned the question of whether the authors were compensated for their appearances. The Printers’ Ink London correspondent directly had inquired of the store “what was behind the copy,” and Charles Wildes , director of Harrods , unequivocally claimed that the “three authors were genuinely unpaid” and went on to reassert that “no other authors were approached [and] no money or other inducement was given to either Wells , Shaw or Bennett . Two years ago, Bennett refused a 500 pound offer to write one large advertisement, made by a large London firm.” 7 Skepticism continued to be directed towards both 1929 campaigns (and those like them) over endorser compensation so that the experimental “near-testimonial” for both Harrods and Simmons ultimately proved unsuccessful in allaying concerns over the technique.
In April of 1929, invoking both campaigns, H. S. Gardner wrote in Advertising & Selling that the innovation in testimonial form was proof that the technique was indeed on the wane:Possibly the perpetrators of these silly hoaxes are beginning to realize that they have been too blatant, for more subtle treatment is creeping in. We now see sleep endorsed, instead of a certain make of beds. Since this endorsement of nature’s great blessing appears in an advertisement of beds, no doubt the advertiser feels that a near endorsement is as good as a real one. This near endorsement of a product reached the heights of subtlety recently when three of the world’s leading literary lights declined to sell their talents in the interest of commercialism, and yet permitted the advertiser to publish in advertisements their pictures and letters declining the offer. … No doubt some of
these testimonials were given without a price consideration, the desire for publicity being a sufficient reward – but how can the public discriminate? The sheep are all herded with the goats…. And who, pray, is being deluded, except the manufacturer who pays the bills? Certainly not the public—who merely laughs at such gross stupidity. 8
After noting recent scandalous fraudulent testimonial exposures, Gardner concludes with a near-epitaph:This is all evidence that the prostituted advertisement is taking the cure. Complete recovery is certain to be effected if the patient is given big and frequent doses of well-deserved publicity. Lay on, MacDuff, and don’t let up until there remains no copy theme chaser who has the temerity to submit a testimonial advertisement to a client. Honest testimonials will disappear with the paid ones, but one can always fall back on a simple statement of a product’s merits and have an effective advertisement. After so much highly seasoned advertising, the public might like a little plain talk, if it has the ring of sincerity in it. 9
It was clear that the testimonial would again have to fight for legitimacy and seek new ways to regain the public’s attention and trust, and, late in his life, Shaw again becomes the linchpin of a campaign that sought to counteract the technique’s beleaguered public reputation.
In September of 1930, Advertising & Selling’s European correspondent noted an “advertisement [that] occupied a generous space in the New York Herald of Paris” and served as “another illustration of the mass of international advertising appearing” on the continent. The travel advert repackaged a statement Shaw had made in 1929:Englishmen, Irishmen, Scots, Americans and holiday makers of all civilized nations, come in your millions to Yugoslavia. The people are everything you imagine yourselves to be and are not. They are hospitable, good humoured and very good looking. Every town is a picture and every girl is a movie star. Come quickly before they find us out: it is too good to last. Bernard Shaw.
In response, Amos Stote , entitling his piece “G.B.S. Joins Us,” raves,Here’s a testimonial advertisement, and a signed one, that I am all for. Just how the Ministry of Commerce of Yugoslavia got it I can’t tell. But it must be authentic, and very spontaneous. [The text] certainly elevates G.B.S. to the exalted rank of copywriter, gives him an honest place among the world’s workers, and shows what a testimonial advertisement can be. 10
Shaw indeed belonged to those exalted ranks, having already been for decades his own best copywriter for print appearances in newspapers, periodicals, and advertisements. It was even commonplace for him discreetly to “touch up” interviews and articles about him before they went to press. Twenty years after the Harrods ads, though, his practice of producing copy took center stage, after he was approached again by the J. Walter Thompson agency, this time for permission to use a quote in an ad for Pan-American’s Clipper air service from New York to Ireland. Having become in 1947 “the first [agency in America] to pass the US$100 million billings mark” 11 as well as the largest such company in Britain, JWT continued to creatively resuscitate celebrity endorsement as a lucrative marketing technique and decided to approach the promotion in an unusual way, heavily stressing Shaw’s involvement in the copywriting process. When it appeared in 1948, the spot proved to be yet another international marketing event, one that not only foregrounded Shaw’s savvy marketing but also illustrated once more how agencies could re-purpose “G.B.S.” to suit their own interests.
Biographer Dan Laurence locates the campaign’s genesis with JWT copywriter Gelston Hardy who, in 1946, “conceived the idea of promoting Pan American’s Clipper service between the United States and Ireland by use of a Shaw quotation he had found in an Irish Tourist Association leaflet.” 12 However, an interview with Hardy that appeared in The New Yorker in 1948 pushed the origin back to the fall of 1945 when[Hardy] was poking around for an idea to encourage flights by trans-atlantic Clipper and came across a statement by [Irish politician Éamon] De Valera that seemed to be ready-made for the purpose: “When you come to Ireland, a hearty welcome awaits you.” [Despite obtaining de Valera’s consent,] it didn’t strike Pan American as cogent copy. 13
Hardy then discovered and immediately realized the potential of the ITA leaflet blurb attributed to the playwright: “I was lost in dreams of Ireland; one cannot work in a place where there is such infinite peace.” 14
As a result of Helen Lansdowne’s lucrative Pond’s campaign, the Personality Department at J. Walter Thompson was created in the mid-1920s to identify, contact, and negotiate directly with prospective product endorsers without having to contract with companies who specialized in that service, and international company offices each had their own Personality staff. William M. Freeman , in his book The Big Name (1957), provides an overview of the solicitation and endorsement process:Once the campaign has been decided on and a huddle has produced the concept of a celebrity or an unknown, selected by occupation or background, as an endorser, the agency calls in the specialist who has on file a list of names of personalities who are appropriate to certain fields of endorsements. … It is a matter of “good casting” – matching the right product to the right name. The specialist in the field, armed with a rough of the copy, … makes the contact and goes ahead with the sometimes delicate negotiations. … The honorarium varies considerably. The average “fee” may range from nothing all the way to $1,500, sometimes more. Quite often a celebrity will accept nothing at all with a mention of his latest picture or book or whatever it might be the only quid pro quo for the endorsement. 15
Immediately after discovering the quotation, Hardy directed the London office to contact Shaw and attempt to persuade him for permission to use it.
For months, JWT heard nothing back from the playwright . In October 1946, though, a reply to their permission query arrived in which Shaw disavowed and denounced the quotation:I object most strenuously to the advertisement. I am quoted as saying what I never said, and [it] is not only manifest nonsense as to Ireland being a land of peace, but is most unlikely to stimulate tourist traffic, which is presumably your object. And will you please refer to me in public as Bernard Shaw and not George Bernard Shaw.
I authorize you to substitute the following quotation:
“There is no magic like that of Ireland.
There are no skies like Irish skies.
There is no air like Irish air.
Two years in the Irish climate will make the stiffest and slowest mind flexible and faster for life.”
You can put my photograph and signature to this; but you must follow it, as from Airways, with: “And all this within two hours of luxurious travel from London instead of an uncomfortable sixteen.”
I should like to see a proof of the altered advertisements before it goes to press.
Faithfully,
G. Bernard Shaw 16
Unsurprisingly, JWT was thrilled at the unexpected contribution and reconceived the campaign around these “corrected” lines, visually supplemented by postcard images of Dublin and Ashford Castle. 17 Stumped as to what to do about the reference to Ireland’s being only two hours from London, Hardy asked the British office to clarify for Shaw that Pan-American was pushing transatlantic travel. Then, he set about reworking the playwright’s copy, smoothing out the confusion of that final line, rendering it as “And you can go on to London by luxurious Clipper in less than two hours now instead of an uncomfortable sixteen.” Hardy also replaced “two years in the Irish Climate” with “two weeks in the Irish Climate,” deemed a more appropriate length for tourism.
Unwilling to spend nearly $2000 on a proof of the four-color ad in case Shaw withdrew from the project, Hardy sent him a typewritten version of all the proposed copy (including captions for the images) in March of 1948. In a rapid response, as Dan Laurence puts it, “Shaw characteristically proceeded to revise not only his own contribution but everything else as well.” 18 Alongside “Press as corrected, GBS,” the emended copy read,There is no magic like that of Ireland.
There are no skies like Irish skies.
The Irish climate will make the stiffest and slowest mind flexible for life;
And you can now go on to London by air in less than two hours instead of sixteen by rail and unquiet sea. 19
Significantly, Shaw excised the explicit mention of the client in the last line, but Hardy affirmed “the old gentleman’s” decision to remove “our commercial about ‘luxurious Clipper’ [since] we really wanted to be sincere about this thing.” 20 As he had in the earlier Simmons campaign, Shaw is careful not specifically to endorse the product but rather rhapsodize about Ireland. The ad’s final draft supplemented Shaw’s text and signature with four images (the largest being of the playwright in the upper left corner), copy about the Clipper including their experienced crew and directions for fares and reservations, and the Pan-American World Airways logo in the lower left corner. 21 With layout and copy finalized, the campaign was ready for rollout in the summer of 1948, and the ad proliferated widely through a number of American periodicals, from June and July editions of Time and The New Yorker to the September issues of the Princeton Alumni Weekly (49:2) and Cornell Alumni News (51:2) (see Fig. 5.1).