THE RELAXED SELL

by Thomas Whiteside ‧ RELEASE DATE: May 6, 1954

From The New Yorker, The Reporter, and the New Republic, these seven pieces on the hoop-la and ballyhoo of Madison Avenue merchandising provide a funny- to fantastic- spectacle of the more creative processes of advertising people. The frenzied activity on the Lucky Strike account and the problems in visualizing the fine-tobacco story; the soap opera, which has been used to ""unclog the national pore"" and the Hummerts who brought the attenuated crisis to its fullest expression when they kept a heroine in a revolving door for seventeen days; the pollsters, and the science of audience reaction testing- even hypnosis has been used; the achievement of Elsie, the Borden Cow, a golden calf who has acquired a recognition rating of 88%; the singing commercial; the amphibious ball point pen; the space sage-- these profiles are a disarmingly devastating commentary on the gimmicks and gismos of a packaged culture.

Pub Date: May 6, 1954

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Oxford

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 1954

Categories: NONFICTION