WHEN A NEW WRITER ENTERS the copywriting game, he or she studies the masters to see what they did and how they approached their prospects. When I started out, I was referred to copy written by Eugene Schwartz, who wrote for Boardroom, Rodale and his own publishing business. He sold millions of dollars' worth of books.
His style was short, punchy copy that promoted benefit after benefit. I wondered, as I read some of his work, if these things were true. I've since learned that many were not. I also learned that for years he'd been dogged by the Federal Trade Commission for making false claims in the ads he wrote.
Look at some of Schwartz's past copy and you'll find claims such as: How modern Chinese medicine helps both men and women BURN DISEASE OUT OF YOUR BODY using nothing more than the palm of your hand! or Eventually throw your glasses away, and never need to see an eye doctor again, simply by rubbing around the eyes for a few minutes every day.
His mailing pieces contained hundreds of statements like that, many of questionable validity. When you encounter statement after statement, you begin to question your sense of what's true or false. Since we grew up believing that the government protects us from charlatans, and that the truth-in-advertising laws prevent lies from being told in ads, we can come to doubt our own reason.
Here's the ugly truth: You can write anything you want in a book.
As long as there is no libel involved, the book can't be challenged. It can be untrue or wrong and the author will suffer nothing worse than the ridicule of those who know better. He can battle things out and win his argument by using the First Amendment, which assures freedom of expression.
From there, whatever is stated in a book, whether true or a lie, can be presented in advertising copy for that book, in information pamphlets and in newsletters. Because the claims were taken from a book — no matter how dubious the information it contains — they can't be criticized or censored by the government. That book is protected by the First Amendment.
This means truth in advertising is not a guarantee.
Obviously, a lot of money has been made using that loophole — and, I expect, many people have been ripped off using the same loophole. Caveat emptor! Maybe we should precede every ad or mailing piece with those words in capital letters.
Joan Throckmorton's coda as presented in Denny Hatch and Don Jackson's book “2,239 Tested Secrets for Direct Marketing Success” states, “As direct marketers we're not here primarily to make a sale, we're here to get a customer.”
I hope this is true. If we aren't trying to make a sale but rather to make a customer, we shouldn't try to deceive a prospect. I think we all should be honest with our customers. When we present an offer it should be easy to understand and should sell the product or service in such a way that we get someone who trusts us enough to buy from us again.
You can make a fool of a person once, but how many will let you do it twice? By lying, the fooled prospect might give you a sale, but there's a very good chance you'll lose a customer.
ALBERT SAXON is president of Saxon Marketing in Indian Orchard, MA.
