Our master's voice: advertising

318 Pages·2020·2.641 MB·English

by  James Rorty and Jefferson Pooley.

1934
Our
Master’s
Voice:
Advertising
James Rorty
a
mediastudies.press with a new
public domain introduction by
edition Jefferson Pooley
James Rorty
O U R M A S T E R ’ S V O I C E
A D V E R T I S I N G
a mediastudies.press public domain edition
OurMaster’sVoice: Advertising,originallypublishedin1934bythe john day company,isinthepublic
domain.
Publishedby mediastudies.press inthe public domain series
mediastudies.press|414W.BroadSt.,Bethlehem,PA18018,USA
NewmaterialsarelicensedunderaCreativeCommonsAttribution-Noncommercial4.0(cc by-nc 4.0)
cover design: MarkMcGillivray
credit for scan: InternetArchive,contributorPrelingerLibrary,2006upload
credit for latex template: BookdesigninspiredbyEdwardTufte,byTheTufte-LaTeXDevelopers
isbn 978-1-951399-00-9(print)| isbn 978-1-951399-01-6(ebook)
doi 10.21428/3f8575cb.dbba9917
library of congress control number 202094177
Edition1publishedinOctober2020
Dedicated to the memory of Thorstein Veblen, and to
those technicians of the word whose “conscientious
withdrawal of efficiency” may yet accomplish that
burial of the ad-man’s pseudoculture which this book
contemplates with equanimity.
About the Author
James Rorty wasbornMarch30,1890inMiddletown,NewYork. doi|originalpdf
Hewaseducatedinthepublicschools,servedanearlyjournalis-
ticapprenticeshiponadailynewspaperinMiddletown,andwas
graduatedfromTuftsCollege. Mr. Rortywasacopy-writerforan
advertisingagencyfrom1913to1917,atwhichtimeheenlistedas
astretcherbearerintheUnitedStatesArmyAmbulanceService.
HewasawardedtheDistinguishedServiceCrossforserviceinthe
Argonneoffensive.
SincethewarMr. Rortyhasworkedvariouslyasanadvertisingcopy-
writer,publicityman,newspaperandmagazinefreelance. Heis
theauthoroftwobooksofverse,“WhatMichaelSaidtotheCensus
Taker”and"ChildrenoftheSun”,andhascontributedtotheNation,
NewRepublic,NewMasses,Freeman,NewFreeman,andHarpers.
Contents
FOREWORD ix
PREFACEtothemediastudies.pressedition xi
JAMESRORTY’SVOICE:Introductiontothemediastudies.pressedition xiv
PREFACE:IWasanAd-manOnce 3
1 THEBUSINESSNOBODYKNOWS 11
2 THEAPPARATUSOFADVERTISING 17
3 HOWITWORKS 27
4 PRIMROSECHEESE:AnAdvertisingAccouchement 35
5 ASADVERTISED:TheProductofAdvertising 50
6 THEMAGAZINES 56
7 THENATURALHISTORYOFADVERTISING 100
8 THETHREEGRACES:Advertising,Propaganda,Education 108
9 TRUTHINADVERTISING 129
10 CHAINMUSIC:TheTruthAbouttheShavers 140
11 BEAUTYANDTHEAD-MAN 148
12 SACREDANDPROFANELOVE 162
13 SCIENCESAYS:ComeUpandSeeMeSomeTime 170
14 WHOSESOCIALSCIENTISTAREYOU? 173
15 PSYCHOLOGYASKS:HowAmIDoing? 178
16 THEMOVIES 186
17 RULEBYRADIO 195
18 RELIGIONANDTHEAD-MAN 205
viii
19 EVOLUTIONOFTHEAMERICANHERO 213
20 THECARPENTERRE-CARPENTERED 228
21 AGALLERYOFPORTRAITS 242
22 GÖTTERDÄMMERUNG 252
23 NIRA:TheAd-ManontheJob 258
24 ALLFORPURITY 264
25 CALLFORMR.THROTTLEBOTTOM 270
26 CONCLUSION:ProblemsandProspects 277
FOREWORD
Two basic definitionswillperhapsassistthereadertounderstand doi|originalpdf
thescopeandintentofthisbook.1 1[Clarifyingfootnotesfromthereprint
Theadvertisingbusinessistakentomeanthetotalapparatusof editor,JeffersonPooley,willappearin
brackets]
newspaperandmagazinepublishinginAmerica,plusradiobroad-
casting,andwithimportantqualificationsthemovies;plusthead-
vertisingagencystructure,carcard,poster,anddirect-by-mailcom-
panies,plustheservicesofsupply: printing,lithography,engraving,
etc. whicharelargelydependentupontheadvertisingbusinessfor
theirexistence.
Theadvertisingtechniqueistakentomeanthetechniqueofmanu-
facturingcustomersbyproducingsystematizedillusionsofvalueor
desirabilityinthemindsoftheparticularpublicatwhichthetech-
niqueisdirected.
Thebookisanattempt,byanadvertisingmanandjournalist,to
tellhowandwhythetraditionalconceptionandfunctionofjournal-
ismhaslapsedinthiscountry. Itdescribestheprogressiveseizure
anduse,bybusiness,oftheapparatusofsocialcommunicationin
America. Naturally,thisstoryhasnotbeen“covered”,hasnotbeen
consideredfittoprint,inanynewspaperormagazinedependentfor
itsexistenceuponadvertising.
InattemptingtoexaminethephenomenonofAmericanadver-
tisinginthecontextofthecultureitbecamenecessarytoexamine
thecultureitselfandeventotraceitseconomicandideologicalori-
gins. Thisenlargementofscopenecessitatedasomewhatcursory
andinadequatetreatmentofmanydetailedaspectsofthesubject.
Thewriteracceptedthislimitation,feelingthatwhatwaschiefly
importantwastoestablish,ifpossible,theessentialstructureand
functioningofthephenomena.
Sincethebookispresentednotassociology,butasjournalism,
thewriterfeltfreetousesatiricalandevenfictionalliterarytech-
niquesforwhatevertheymightyieldinthewayofunderstanding
andemphasis. Thewriterwishestoacknowledgegratefullythehelp
andencouragementhehasreceivedfrommanyfriendsinandout
x
oftheadvertisingbusiness. Thesectionon“TheMagazines”isal-
mostwhollytheworkofWinifredRaushenbushandHalSwanson.
ThanksareduetoProfessorRobertLyndforreadingportionsofthe
manuscriptandformanystimulatingsuggestions;toProfessorSid-
neyHookforpermissiontoquotefromunpublishedmanuscripts;to
F.J.SchlinkandhisassociatesonthestaffofConsumers’Research
forpermissiontousecertaindata;toStuartChaseformuchuseful
counselandencouragement;toDr. MeyerSchapiroforvaluablecrit-
icismsofthemanuscriptandtoElliotE.Cohenforhelpinrevising
theproofs;totheofficialsoftheFoodandDrugAdministrationsfor
courteouslyandconscientiouslyansweringquestions.
PREFACE to the mediastudies.press edition
James Rorty’s OurMaster’sVoiceisburiedtreasure. Thebookset doi
offtremorswhenpublishedin1934,perhapsbecauseitsauthor
sodecisivelyrepudiatedhisformerprofession. ButaftertheSec-
ondWorldWar,Rortyandhisspiritedtakedownofadvertisingfell
intonearobscurity. Thescholarlyliteraturethatcoalescedaround
“masscommunication”intheearlypostwardecadesmakesalmost
nomentionofthebook. Populartreatmentsofadvertising—like
VancePackard’s1957bestsellerTheHiddenPersuaders—neglectthe
booktoo.1 AndwhenOurMaster’sVoicedoessurfacetoday,there’s 1VanceO.Packard,TheHiddenPer-
usuallyafilialexplanation: Thebooktendstoappearinbiographical suaders(NewYork:McKay,1957).
sketchesofRorty’sfarmorefamousson,Richard.2 2See,forexample,NeilGross,Richard
SonoonereadsJamesRortyanymore. Thisistoobad,sincethe Rorty:TheMakingofanAmericanPhiloso-
pher(Chicago:UniversityofChicago
bookremainsremarkablyspryeighty-fiveyearsafteritsfirstprint-
Press,2008),chap.1.
ing. Infact,Rorty’sdissectionoftheadbusinesshasfreshthingsto
saytoscholarsofGoogle-style“surveillancecapitalism.” Thegood-
naturedurgencyofRorty’sproseresonatestoo—maybeespecially
becausehisaimtoburythe“ad-man’spseudoculture”provedaspec-
tacularfailure. Wecan,in2020,pickupwhereRortyleftoff.
ThusOurMaster’sVoiceistherightbooktoinaugurateourPublic
Domainseries. Itis,ofcourse,inthepublicdomain,havinglapsed
outofcopyrightin1962. Butthatcopy-freedomisjustthebook’s
baselinequalification: Weare,atmediastudies.press,lookingtore-
publishworksthatclingtorelevance,evenifthey’velongsincefallen
outofprint. Anevennarrowerwedgeofbooksstandsout,likeOur
Master’sVoice,fortheirunmeritedbanishmentfromthefield’smem-
ory. Suchbooks—unheraldedfornogoodreason—arewhatwehave
inmindforthenewseries.
ThePublicDomainprojecthasapairofinspirations. Thefirstis
theUniversityofChicagoPress’slong-runningHeritageofSociology
series,establishedbyMorrisJanowitzintheearly1960sonhisreturn
toChicago. Thefirsthandfulofvolumesweredevotedtoprominent
figuresinwhatwas,bythen,knownasthe“ChicagoSchool.”3 But 3InhishistoryoftheChicagodepart-
theseriesgrewmorecatholicovertime,withvolumesdevotedto ment,AndrewAbbottcalledJanowitz