Landtuna, you need to understand what is happening here. You are expressing an opinion, your right to do. They, like myself, are not expressing opinions as much as we are our experience and knowledge of working in the business. You mentioned in an earlier post that you had been in the military. As I have not been in the military, any comments I would make about the military would be opinion but your words would be from experience and knowledge.
It is my opinion, based on your comments that you are insulted and lashing out because we disagree with your opinion. It seems some comments about your opinion seem the same. And there seems to be reason for both sides to feel disregarded by the other.
Might I opt for this: if advertising does not work and is ineffective, if you had a business in need of customers, how do you reach the potential customer without advertising? I can easily admit advertising is a calculated roll of the dice. It is not perfect but if you take advertising away, then what? One can say the same of government, not perfect, sometimes ineffective, etc., but if you take government away, what do you have?
Likewise, if you think radio, TV or you choose the medium, is ineffective, then how do you reach the masses? Would you think ineffective advertising venues would be cluttered with messages or not? Would companies spend consistently (ie: Home Depot) on media that is ineffective?
My point is nothing is perfect, so you refine your options to take your best shot at success in what you do. If you did things right, you have a decent chance at success.
Among my advertising stories, talking about advertising results, I'll share this one. Back when the water filtration devices were being hawked by lots of folks, I signed up a guy that was selling them. I strongly suggested he sell the positives of the device and not all the 'harmful' elements found in water supplies but he insisted on writing the spot. I didn't feel good about his choice but it was his money and his choice.
The second day in to his schedule, something happened to the local water supply. The tap water looked sort of milky and gray in color. The city issued a boil order. It seems there had been some sort of underground cave-in and the tap water was fine but just sort of muddy. That lasted about 36 hours.
My water filtration guy's schedule is running during this time talking about all the bad stuff in our drinking water. I called to suggest he stop running until the crisis ended (and no tap water without boiling is a crisis to the average Joe). He, instead, felt he'd get tons of customers. He's the boss since he's my client.
By the end of the first day of the tap water problem, my water filtration guy called in a panic. He was in hiding. He had been getting death threats and people had been driving by his house, coming to his door, etc. In some people's minds, this poor water filtration guy had somehow caused the tap water problem so he could financially benefit from it. He said to cancel his schedule ASAP, that it was going to get him killed.
The fact was it was advertising that worked. By the way, by the time the water crisis was over, this guy shut down his water filtration company and it was a few months before I heard from him again. You might say he really got results!
Finally, I mentioned my Dad managed a bookstore at one point. One of the authors that came to the store told my Dad about one of his blunders that was an eyeopener for him. He was working for Mr. Wrigley, the owner of the #1 chewing gum in the country. The author was a relatively new hire and wanting to make an impression with his boss. He had an excellent opportunity. A handful of employees and Mr. Wrigley were on a charter flight back to Los Angeles, so catching his ear for a couple of minutes in an informal setting was a superb opportunity for him. He noted a magazine where there was a full page ad for Juicy Fruit gum. He noticed it was the only chewing gum advertised in the magazine. Since his job was to save the company money, he suggested they drop the $4,000 ad. Mr. Wrigley responded by asking the author what the number one selling gum in America was. The author answered "Juicy Fruit". Mr. Wrigley pointed to the full page ad and said "That's why we are".
