Advocacy Advertising—The American Experience

Barnet Sylvan M. Jr. , “A Global Look at Advocacy Advertising,” Public Relations Journal (November 1975), pp. 18–21.

“The Price of Institutional Advertising in 1975,” Public Relations Journal (November 1976), pp. 28–29.

Barnet , op. cit.

“America's Growing Antibusiness Mood,” Business Week (17 June 1972), pp. 100–103.

For a further elaboration on this theme, see Sethi S. Prakash , “Dimensions of Corporate Social Performance: An Analytical Framework for Measurement and Evaluation,” California Management Review (Spring 1975), pp. 58–64.

Whyte William H. Jr. , Is Anybody Listening? (New York: Simon and Schuster, 1952), p. 8.

Kristol Irving , “On Economic Education,” Wall Street Journal (18 February 1976), p. 20. Kristol's analysis is similar to the findings of a 1950 study by the Brookings Institution on the effectiveness of attempts at economic education by business. The study concluded that real improvements in economic education can be best achieved through improved teaching efforts in established educational institutions. “How Good is ‘Economic Education’?” Fortune (July 1951), pp. 84–86ff. The study was conducted by Moulton Harold Dr. McKee C. W. Dr.

For some case histories of corporate corruption and payoffs, see Sethi S. Prakash , Up Against the Corporate Wall, 3rd ed. (Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice-Hall, 1976).

“Oil Industry Group Plans Big Campaign to Block Legislation to Split Up Firms,” Wall Street Journal (11 November 1975), p. 21. See also ads by Union Oil, Texaco, and Mobil Oil that appeared in the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, and Newsweek in May-June 1976.

“Oil Meets the Press: The Image Has Been Smeared and the Companies Are Largely To Be Blamed,” Dun's (April 1974), p. 62.

“The Embattled Businessman,” Newsweek (16 February 1976), p. 56. Paradoxically, emphasis on the positive often provokes a negative reaction. If the audience is critical of corporate failures, avoidance of the issue by repeating a list of contributions tends to create further alienation. See Whyte , op. cit., p. 14.

National Association of Manufacturers, The Public Image of Business in a Time of Changing Values (New York: The Association, 1973). Emphasis in original. See also, Powell Lewis F. Jr. , “Attack on American Free Enterprise System, Confidential Memorandum, August 23, 1971,” reported in Washington Report Supplement (Washington, D.C.).

Testimony of Herbert Schmertz, of Mobil Oil Corporation, in U.S. Senate, Energy and Environmental Objectives, Hearings before the Subcommittee on Environment of the Committee on Commerce, Part 2, Washington, D.C., 93rd Congress (May 6 and July 18, 1974), pp. 99–100.

According to a study by the Council on Economic Priorities, the number of companies treating the environment as a gimmick in an attempt to boost the sales of their products include American Tobacco, Bulova, Cott Beverage, Hask, Liggett & Meyers, Publix Shirt, Pittsburgh Plate Glass, and Texaco. “Corporate Advertising and the Environment,” Economic Priorities Report (New York: Council on Economic Priorities, September-October 1971), p. 19.

Whyte , Is Anybody Listening?

For an early history of the defense of business by businessmen as the guardians of American ideological values, see Lodge George C. , The New American Ideology (New York: Knopf, 1975), chapter 4. Gerstenberg's statement appeared on the Op Ed page of the New York Times (29 December 1972), and is cited in Lodge.

Lodge , op. cit.

Cited in Lodge , op. cit., p. 191.

Cited in Sethi , Up Against the Corporate Wall, 2nd ed., pp. 102–211.

The advertisement appeared in the Wall Street Journal (23 March 1976), p. 9. “What Makes America Work—Taxes … But Our Federal Code Needs a Complete Change.”

Banks Louis , “Media Responsibility for Economic Literacy,” speech given at the Annual John Hancock Awards for Excellence in Business and Financial Journalism. “A Bicentennial Examination of the Free Market System,” John Hancock Mutual Life Insurance Co., Boston, October 28, 1975. See also “People in Business: Executives vs. the Newsmen,” New York Times (22 October 1975), p. 59.

Connor Michael J. , “Arguing Back: Mobil's Advocacy Ads Lead a Growing Trend, Draw Praise, Criticism,” Wall Street Journal (14 May 1975), p. 1.

“The New Concerns About the Press,” Fortune (April 1975), p. 130.

Letter by Crichton John , president, American Association of Advertising Agencies, to Senator Hart Philip A. (D.-Mich.), dated July 16, 1974. For comments by other industry spokesmen, see U.S. Senate, Energy and Environmental Objectives, Hearings before the Subcommittee on Environment of the Committee on Commerce, Part 2, Washington, D.C., 93rd Congress, May 6 and July 18, 1974; “Donald Cook Takes on the Environmentalists,” Business Week (26 October 1975), p. 70; Connor , op. cit.; MacNaughton Donald S. , “The Businessman Versus the Journalist,” New York Times (7 March 1976), section 3, p. 14; “The Embattled Businessman,” Newsweek (16 February 1976), p. 58; Kristol , “On ‘Economic Education,’” p. 29; Carmody Deirdre , “Reporters Chided on Business News,” New York Times (5 May 1976), p. 38.

O'Toole John E. , “Advocacy Advertising Shows The Flag,” Public Relations Journal (November 1975), p. 15.

“Donald Cook Takes on the Environmentalists,” Business Week (26 October 1975), p. 70.

Gallese Liz Roman , “Boston's Sharon King Becomes Local TV Star by Knocking Products,” Wall Street Journal (20 October 1975), p. 1.

Blundell William E. , “Phillips Petroleum to Turn Over Control to Outside Directors in Settlement Suit,” Wall Street Journal (19 February 1976), p. 7.

“Corporate Advertising and the Environment,” p. 28.