Let's get right down to the heart of the matter. The power, the force, the overwhelming urge to own that makes advertising work, comes from the market itself, and not from the copy. Copy cannot create desire for a product. It can only take the hopes, dreams, fears and desires that already exist in the hearts of millions of people, and focus those already existing desires onto a particular product. This is the copy writer's task: not to create this mass desire—but to channel and direct it.
Actually, it would be impossible for any one advertiser to spend enough money to actually create this mass desire. He can only exploit it. And he dies when he tries to run against it.
This has been shown time and time again in the automotive field, for example. In 1948, in order to display their rising standard of living, the American public decided they wanted a longer, lower, wider car. Chrysler chose to buck the trend; and offered a fine, functional car—with more head, leg and shoulder room on the inside—but shorter and squatter on the outside. A multimillion-dollar campaign was prepared by one of the most creative agencies in America. But the results—against the tide of mass desire—were catastrophic.
In 1954, cars had become universally long; and drivers were appraising each other's car in terms of horsepower. Here was the rise to dominance of a vast new public demand. The Twin-H Hudson Hornet, the twin-exhaust Cadillac, the Chrysler 300—all in turn exploited this trend, and rode it to gain millions of dollars in extra sales. The Ford Company decided to plav it down, and devoted millions of advertising dollars to sell safety. Again, the advertising ran into a wall of disinterest: results were nonexistent; and the next year Ford produced, and advertised, the highest-horsepower engines in their history
YVut perhaps \Vie most pamTu\ prooY was the Edsel. Here was a good car, backed by a deluge of fhu< advertising, that died trying to fight the overwhelming switch in demand to a cheap, simple, inexpensive-to-run compact car.
Let me repeat. This mass desire must already be there. It must already exist. You cannot create it. and vou cannot fight it. But you can—and must—direct it, channel it. focus it onto your particular product.