The Marketing Bureau

Advertising. The first of a series of collections of useable quotations to make you look really smart in your next presentation or report.

"Advertising is the principal reason why the business man has come to inherit the earth."

James Randolph Adams, quoted in John P. Bradley, Leo F. Daniels & Thomas C. Jones, The International Dictionary of Thoughts, 1969, Chicago, IL: J. G. Ferguson Publishing Co., p. 12.

"Advertising is of the very essence of democracy. An election goes on every minute of the business day across the counters of hundreds of thousands of stores and shops where the customers state their preferences and determine which manufacturer and which product shall be the leader today, and which shall lead tomorrow."

Bruce Barton (1955), chairman of BBDO, quoted in James B. Simpson, Contemporary Quotations, 1964, Binghamton, NY: Vail-Ballou Press, p. 82.

"Advertising is the ability to sense, interpret . . . to put the very heart throbs of a business into type, paper and ink."

Leo Burnett, quoted by Joan Kufrin, Leo Burnett: Star Reacher(1995), Chicago, IL: Leo Burnett Company, Inc., p. 54.

"Advertising is what you do when you can't go see somebody. That's all it is."

Fairfax Cone (1963), ad agency partner, quoted in James B. Simpson, Contemporary Quotations, 1964, Binghamton, NY: Vail-Ballou Press, p. 84.

"Advertising is the life of trade."

Calvin Coolidge, quoted in John P. Bradley, Leo F. Daniels & Thomas C. Jones, The International Dictionary of Thoughts, 1969, Chicago, IL: J. G. Ferguson Publishing Co., p. 13.

"Advertising - a judicious mixture of flattery and threats."

Northrop Frye, quoted in Robert I. Fitzhenry, The Fitzhenry & Whiteside Book of Quotations, 1993, Canada: Fitzhenry & Whiteside Limited, p. 18.

"The art of publicity is a black art."

Learned Hand, American jurist, quoted in Robert I. Fitzhenry, The Fitzhenry & Whiteside Book of Quotations, 1993, Canada: Fitzhenry & Whiteside Limited, p. 19.

"[A]dvertising is a symbol-manipulating occupation."

S. I. Hayakawa, Language in Thought and Action (1964), New York: Harcourt, p. 268.

"Advertising is salesmanship mass produced. No one would bother to use advertising if he could talk to all his prospects face-to-face. But he can't."

Morris Hite, quoted in Adman: Morris Hite's Methods for Winning the Ad Game, 1988, Dallas, TX: E-Heart Press, p. 203.

Advertising is "the lubricant for the free-enterprise system."

Leo-Arthur Kelmenson (1976), quoted in Michael McKenna, The Stein & Day Dictionary of Definitive Quotations, 1983, New York: Stein & Day Publishing Co., p. 11.

"Advertising may be described as the science of arresting the human intelligence long enough to get money from it."

Stephen Butler Leacock, quoted in Michael Jackman, Crown's Book of Political Quotations, 1982, New York: Crown Publishing Inc., p. 1.

"Advertising is the greatest art form of the twentieth century."

Marshall McLuhan (1976), Canadian social scientist (quoted in Robert Andrews, The Routledge Dictionary of Quotations 1987, p. 5, London: Routledge & Kegan Paul).

"Ads are the cave art of the twentieth century."

Marshall McLuhan, quoted in Robert I. Fitzhenry, The Fitzhenry & Whiteside Book of Quotations, 1993, Canada: Fitzhenry & Whiteside Limited, p. 19.

"Advertising is an environmental striptease for a world of abundance."

Marshall McLuhan, introduction to Wilson Bryan Key, Subliminal Seduction: Ad Media's Manipulation of a Not So Innocent America, 1974, New York: Signet (New American Library), p. vii.

"Advertising is the rattling of a stick inside a swill bucket."

George Orwell, quoted in Angela Partington, The Oxford Dictionary of Quotations, 1992, New York: Oxford University Press, p. 501.

Advertising is "[a] ten billion dollar a year misunderstanding with the public."

Chester L. Posey, Senior V.P. & Creative Director, McCann Erickson

"Advertising is, actually, a simple phenomenon in terms of economics. It is merely a substitute for a personal sales force - an extension, if you will, of the merchant who cries aloud his wares."

Rosser Reeves, Reality in Advertising (1986), New York: Alfred A. Knopf, Inc., p. 145.

"Advertising is the 'wonder' in Wonder Bread."

Jef I. Richards (1995), advertising professor, The University of Texas at Austin.

"Advertising is the art and sole of capitalism. It captures a moment of time through the lense of commerce, reflecting and affecting our lives, making us laugh and cry, while simultaneously giving traction to the engine that propels this free market economy forward into the future."

Jef I. Richards (2001), Chairman of The University of Texas Advertising Department.

"Advertising is the modern substitute for argument; its function is to make the worse appear the better."

George Santayana

"Advertising is the foot on the accelerator, the hand on the throttle, the spur on the flank that keeps our economy surging forward."

Robert W. Sarnoff, quoted in John P. Bradley, Leo F. Daniels & Thomas C. Jones, The International Dictionary of Thoughts, 1969, Chicago, IL: J. G. Ferguson Publishing Co., p. 15.

"The simplest definition of advertising, and one that will probably meet the test of critical examination, is that advertising is selling in print."

Daniel Starch, Principles of Advertising, 1923, Chicago, IL: A.W. Shaw Company, p. 5.

"Advertising is selling Twinkies to adults"

Donald R. Vance

"Advertising is legalized lying."

H.G. Wells, quoted in Michael Jackman, Crown's Book of Political Quotations, 1982, New York: Crown Publishing Inc., p. 2.

"Advertising is the genie which is transforming America into a place of comfort, luxury and ease for millions."

William Allen White, quoted in John P. Bradley, Leo F. Daniels & Thomas C. Jones, The International Dictionary of Thoughts, 1969, Chicago, IL: J. G. Ferguson Publishing Co., p. 15.