Marriage is a good deal like a circus: there is not as much in it as is represented in the advertising.
—E. W. Howe (1853–1937) American Novelist, Editor
In the arts, the critic is the only independent source of information. The rest is advertising.
—Pauline Kael (1919–2001) American Film Critic
The real fact of the matter is that nobody reads ads. People read what interest them, and sometimes it’s an ad.
—Howard Luck Gossage (1917–69) American Ad Executive
The greatest thing to be achieved in advertising, in my opinion, is believability, and nothing is more believable than the product itself.
—Leo Burnett (1891–1971) American Advertising Executive
Advertising is “the lubricant for the free-enterprise system.”
—Leo-Arthur Kelmenson (1927–2011) American Advertising Executive
Advertisements contain the only truths to be relied on in a newspaper.
—Mark Twain (1835–1910) American Humorist
Advertising is the ability to sense, interpret … to put the very heart throbs of a business into type, paper and ink.
—Leo Burnett (1891–1971) American Advertising Executive
Advertising is not merely an assembly of competing messages; it is a language itself which is always being used to make the same general proposal.
—John Berger (1926–2017) English Art Critic, Novelist
Advertising ministers to the spiritual side of trade.
—Calvin Coolidge (1872–1933) American Head of State, Lawyer
Advertising: the science of arresting the human intelligence long enough to get money from it.
—Stephen Leacock (1869–1944) Canadian Humorist, Writer
The great art in writing advertisements is the finding out of a proper method to catch the reader’s eye; without which, a good thing may pass over unobserved, or lost among commissions of bankrupt.
—Joseph Addison (1672–1719) English Essayist, Poet, Playwright, Politician
The trouble with us in America isn’t that the poetry of life has turned to prose, but that it has turned to advertising copy.
—Louis Kronenberger (1904–80) American Drama, Literary Critic
The advertisements are the most truthful part of a newspaper.
—Thomas Jefferson (1743–1826) American Head of State, Lawyer
The secret of all effective originality in advertising is not the creation of new and tricky words and pictures, but one of putting familiar words and pictures into new relationships.
—Leo Burnett (1891–1971) American Advertising Executive
The product that will not sell without advertising, will not sell profitably with advertising.
—Albert Lasker (1880–1952) American Advertising Pioneer
The aim of marketing is to know and understand the customer so well the product or service fits him and sells itself.
—Peter Drucker (1909–2005) Austrian-born Management Consultant
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 Fairchild Barton (1886–1967) American Author, Advertising Executive, Politician
Advertising is the genie which is transforming America into a place of comfort, luxury and ease for millions.
—William Allen White (1868–1944) American Journalist, Author, Editor
The very first law in advertising is to avoid the concrete promise and cultivate the delightfully vague.
—Bill Cosby (b.1937) American Actor, Comedian, Activist, Producer, Author
Good advertising does not just circulate information. It penetrates the public mind with desires and belief.
—Leo Burnett (1891–1971) American Advertising Executive
Seeing a murder on television can help work off one’s antagonisms. And if you haven’t any antagonisms, the commercials will give you some.
—Alfred Hitchcock (1899–1980) British-born American Film Director, Film Producer
Advertising is fundamentally persuasion and persuasion happens to be not a science, but an art.
—William Bernbach (1911–82) American Advertising Executive
Advertisements contain the only truths to be relied on in a newspaper.
—Thomas Jefferson (1743–1826) American Head of State, Lawyer
What really decides consumers to buy or not to buy is the content of your advertising, not its form.
—David Ogilvy (1911–99) British-American Advertising Executive
The trade of advertising is now so near perfection that it is not easy to propose any improvement. But as every art ought to be exercised in due subordination to the public good, I cannot but propose it as a moral question to these masters of the public ear, whether they do not sometimes play too wantonly with our passions.
—Samuel Johnson (1709–84) British Essayist
However far your travels take you, you will never find the girl who smiles out at you from the travel brochure.
—Unknown
Advertisements are now so numerous that they are very negligently perused, and it is therefore become necessary to gain attention by magnificence of promises and by eloquence sometimes sublime and sometimes pathetic.
—Samuel Johnson (1709–84) British Essayist
If advertising had a little more respect for the public, the public would have a lot more respect for advertising.
—James Randolph Adams (1898–1956) American Advertising Executive
Political advertising ought to be stopped. It’s the only really dishonest kind of advertising that’s left. It’s totally dishonest.
—David Ogilvy (1911–99) British-American Advertising Executive
The most important word in the vocabulary of advertising is test. If you pretest your product with consumers, and pretest your advertising, you will do well in the marketplace.
—David Ogilvy (1911–99) British-American Advertising Executive
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