ADVERTISING

About the Book

Advertisers’ intentional schemes of deception against consumers for financial gain are shameful and unethical. In the business world of advertising, violations are called civil matters and not called criminal offenses. Only a handful of advertisers today are involved. But who are they? The unknowing consumers were ripped off for years. Consumers in years past were innocent but extremely ignorant. Those days are finally over. The general body of consumers now understand the untruthful times and financial overpayments paid in the past. When the public buyers finally stood to be heard, the advertising companies went into shock. Previously, the consumers never said a word or challenged the process. Now, both sides understand where each other stands. The Federal Trade Commission knows as well. This book has proven accounts and worthy opinions.

About the Author

I grew up living along the shoreline of Puget Sound near Port Orchard. My home was between the tiny community of Annapolis and the larger community of Manchester. My home was located about three-fourths of a mile east away from the Washington States Veterans Home on Beach Drive. From my front window the large crane at the Bremerton Naval Shipyard was easily seen and recognized. Further behind was the gorgeous, rugged shapes of the Cascades Mountains. Navy ships, commercial ferries, and private boats were visible on the water of Puget Sound. T. S. Eliot declared: “A home is from where you start.” This book allows me to present my professional history and my interpretation of advertising today. Advertising is certainly different today from the truthful goodness of advertising past. Fairfax Cone explains: “Good advertising is written from one person to another.” Something I have always believed. I am an old print lifer and bold believer of yesterday’s light table industry. I am a big fan of the history of advertising. I bought it, wrote it and sold it. Today, I am eighty-five and still active on the firing line. Dogging bullets and giving my opinion. This book is a fair and honest appraisal of my mature life and character. Reverend Billy Graham said it best: “When character is lost, all is lost.” Bruce Lee said. “Knowledge will give you power but character respect.” My book is about truth sprinkled with sensible, reasonable fiction. I have written professionally since I was nineteen. My professions of the past describe how my life is interwoven with advertising. I believe you don’t find customers for your products; you find products for your customers. Further about books. Tom Clancy wrote: “The difference between reality and fiction is that fiction has to make sense.” Ben Franklin said: “Either write something worth reading or do something worth writing.” I ‘am attempting both. My style of writing is at a level easily understood. I have done many things worthy of writing about. Virgina Woolf wrote: “A self that goes on changing, is a self that goes on living.” I have changed with age. I want you to have better understanding of my association within the advertising industry. In my life I have been pointed out to be a journalism junkie. I ask you to accept journalism as a proud profession and not a course or degree. I will introduce you to a few of my friends; certainly not with their real names or positions. As far as I know my friends, like me, have made mistakes in their lives. George Bernard Shaw once said. “A life making mistakes is not only more honorable, but more useful than a life doing nothing.” Trust me, I made my fair share. This old Codger remains current by reading AP and Reuters daily and I choose to study the ugly changing times the consumers are having with reference to today’s under achieving advertisers. And this tells me: “Stanley, it is a fine kettle of fish you got us into this time.” Peter Drucker said: “If you get to know and understand the customer so well, the product or service sells itself.” Folks, that was a fact years ago but is nothing but bunk today. And yesterday too. As a junior and senior in high school and as a junior college freshman working at KBRO Radio in Bremerton, I was hired part-time to rip wire-copy and prepare newscasts. I compiled stories from the Associated Press and United Press International. It was then and there I was introduced to basic media news and my future lifetime goals. Before entering the Air Force in June 1960 I was given the opportunity of taking bypass tests for a direct duty assignment following basic training. I tested general knowledge in media and my writing skills were reviewed for public affairs. After basic, I went directly into the public affairs office at Fairchild Air Force Base, Spokane. In late 1960, I had my first by-line story in the Air Force Times. At Fairchild, an assistant Public Affairs officer, First Lieutenant Ray Hartsfield taught me important headline writing skills and the needed connection of the headline to the first sentence introducing the highlights of the story. The lieutenant was an honor grad from the school of journalism at the University of Texas. He was a young likeable officer and terrific teacher. Air Force Staff Sergeant Mike Switzer taught me newspaper layout, top story positioning, and how to localize national or international articles making people think we were related to the article. I had a break in service from the summer of 1964 to the fall of 1967. Robin Williams wrote: “If you remember the 60’s you weren’t there.” I disagree. I was busy writing evening television news for WTOC-TV (CBS) in Savannah. I spent over thirteen years with the American Forces Radio and Television Service. In public affairs, I wrote news releases, wrote and edited base newspapers, authored stories for public release, and wrote and edited base guides. I was also a Wing and Division historian at two different assignments. On active duty I was a ‘ghost’ writer for officers writing Commander’s Columns for base newspapers. Daniel Defoe wrote: “It is never too late to be wise.” I retired after twenty years of active-duty forty-three years ago on December 1, 1983. I have years working in commercial broadcasting in management, production, operations and programming and years of news anchoring and doing high school and college play-by-play broadcasting. More importantly, I worked for years developing layouts for base newspapers, and commercial advertising using many print fonts and types and various positionings, balance, tone, texture, and color ranges as well. I was known for my ‘taglines and headlines. Others have said I was an old newsprint pro. I argued about the word old. Steve Jobs said. “The only way to do great work is to love what you do.” I did. The great Charles M. Schutz said: “I never made a mistake in my life. I thought I did once, but I was wrong.” I have reviewed my time and errors. My conclusion: Doing nothing is not as easy as it looks. My fifteen books and other works of the past are truthful of historical facts but with fictious characters. I answer questions with truth and understanding. If you know me, you know who I am and what I stand for and stand against. I have always believed in keeping my head up in failure, and my head down in success. Like hitting a golf ball. Keeping focused. I have a history of the study of famous quotes. This is best: Ashley Montagu said: “The idea is to die young as late as possible.” Sue Grafton wrote recently: “You try to keep life simple but it never works, and in the end all you have left is yourself.” Jane Austen wrote: “There is nothing like staying at home for real comfort.” I am writing from my comfortable office in our home, living with my wife Barbara in Colorado Springs.