Practical English Composition Part 26

IV. Adaptation to Audience

The degree to which the simplification of language in an advertis.e.m.e.nt should be carried depends upon the audience addressed. It is evident that a larger and less educated portion of the public is included in the possible customers for breakfast food and chewing gum than there are in the portion who would be likely to purchase a set of books. An even smaller portion of the public would be interested in an automobile or a piece of automatic machinery. A good advertis.e.m.e.nt should be framed in language that will be understood by all possible purchasers of an article. Many household articles, such as bread, breakfast food, candy, and confections, are advertised in language that a fourth-grade child will readily understand.

V. a.s.signment III

Write an advertis.e.m.e.nt for an athletic contest in which your school will take part, addressing it to the students in your school.

Write an advertis.e.m.e.nt to introduce a new candy or confection among grammar-school children.

Write an advertis.e.m.e.nt for boys' hats; for girls' hats; for overalls; for a magazine devoted to automobiles; for a magazine devoted to fiction.

VI. Simplicity in Structure

An advertis.e.m.e.nt must be clear, not only in language and construction, but in mechanical structure as well. Attention-lines and command-lines must be short and set up so as to stand out clearly from the body of the advertis.e.m.e.nt. The eye takes in automatically from four to six words at a glance, setting the natural limit of length for strong features in an advertis.e.m.e.nt. Artistic arrangement helps an advertis.e.m.e.nt because carefully balanced matter is more attractive than inartistic combinations. A well-balanced advertis.e.m.e.nt, an advertis.e.m.e.nt in which the points are properly subordinated, conveys its meaning to the reader more easily than a badly distributed statement of the same arguments. In the last a.n.a.lysis good art is little more than good order, order that is pleasing to the eye as well as the mind. Good order requires a distribution of eye-effects that coincides with the distribution of mind effects.

VII. a.s.signment IV

Measure ten particularly attractive advertis.e.m.e.nts, ill.u.s.trated or otherwise. Find the line on which the attention is focused and measure its distance from the top and bottom. Test these distances by the formulae:

A +-------------+ B | | | | | | C |-------------| D | | | | | | | | | | E +-------------+ F

(a) AB = 1 inch.

AC = .62 inch.

AE = 1.62 inches.

(b) AE : AB :: AE + AB : AE 1.62 : 1 :: 2.62 : 1.62

(c) CD : AC :: CD + AC : AD 1 : .62 :: 1.62 : 1

This is the so-called "golden rectangle," the most pleasing of all rectangular forms. The attention-line CD is at the point that makes the upper section a "golden rectangle." The capital letter "H" is also one of the most common arrangements in advertising. The square is another pleasing figure and there are many other forms in which advertising matter may be balanced.

VIII. Brevity

Advertising occupies s.p.a.ce for which a high rate frequently is paid.

Brief statement is therefore a factor of great importance. If a small s.p.a.ce is all that is available, the problem of attracting attention becomes most important. It should be evident that a few words clearly and plainly printed are far more effective in a small s.p.a.ce than a long message that is in such fine print that it will strain the eyes of the reader. In the one case you say something at least to your reader. In the other, you have no chance to say anything because you have tried to say too much. When it is necessary to confine your message to a small s.p.a.ce, the attention-sentence, or in some cases the command-sentence, is the part to use. Many signs seen from the rapidly moving window of a street-car or railroad train carry only the name of the product attractively displayed, with a command to use it.

IX. a.s.signment V

Select one of the articles for which you have written advertising and write a complete advertising campaign for it, including five newspaper advertis.e.m.e.nts, five magazine advertis.e.m.e.nts, a four-page folder for distribution, signs for street-cars, signs for posting along highways, and other devices that you think would be effective.

X. Cla.s.sified Advertis.e.m.e.nts

Most newspapers carry columns of cla.s.sified advertising consisting of many small advertis.e.m.e.nts grouped together under various heads. These are commonly used by the public for getting help; obtaining situations; buying, selling, and renting real estate; and disposing of miscellaneous articles. The principles of advertising compositions apply also to these advertis.e.m.e.nts. The attention-factor is not so important, however, as the reader of the advertis.e.m.e.nts in the cla.s.sified columns is looking for the article or service that you to have sell. A glance through the cla.s.sified columns of a newspaper will show clearly the increased attractiveness resulting from the skillful arrangement of details and the use of clear forceful words.

XI. a.s.signment VI

Write an advertis.e.m.e.nt offering a room of your home to rent, using not more than thirty words; an advertis.e.m.e.nt applying for work for which you consider yourself fitted; an advertis.e.m.e.nt offering for sale a house with which you are familiar.

XII. Memorize

SONG FROM "PIPPA Pa.s.sES"

The year's at the spring, And day's at the morn; Morning's at seven; The hill-side's dew-pearled; The lark's on the wing; The snail's on the thorn: G.o.d's in his heaven-- All's right with the world.

ROBERT BROWNING.