The Sweet Smell of Value

Because most advertising men are hard-core optimists, they have been slow to acknowledge the sense of uncertainty spreading over the economy and the nation. But advertising must mirror the mood of its society, and the growing signs of caution among consumers have become too obvious for even the dream spinners of Madison Avenue to ignore. The result: while there is still an abundance of frilly, fun-slanted promotions, a new tone, faintly reminiscent of the Depression years, is creeping into more and more advertising. The trend is toward a fresh stress on value.

The consumer's careful spending is influencing a wide range of products in a variety of ways. Housewives are becoming highly selective in their purchases. The main question they ask, says Gene Case, president of Manhattan's Case & Krone, is "What can I stop buying?" Case's agency, for instance, is trying to broaden the appeal of Angostura Bitters beyond that of a cocktail flavoring and increase its use as a seasoner for low-cost meals. The campaign offers suggestions on "how to repair TV dinners" and "how to make 89-c- chuck taste like $1.29 sirloin."

Buy Chicken Stocks. Campbell Soup, which always promoted its product's quality, is now using the language of finance to stress value as well. A current ad for Campbell's chicken soup declares: "One good way to beat inflation is put your money in 2 chicken stocks. About 7-c- a share." A growing number of packaged-food producers are keeping their new products in test markets rather than risk a costly national campaign.

Travel promotions, in the main, are moderating the usual paeans to fun in far-off places and playing on the consumer purse strings as never before. Typical is the current ad for British Overseas Airways, which depicts a young couple shopping in a supermarket under the folksy headline: "Honest, Jim and Maureen Cunningham, now you can afford to go to Britain." A year ago some ads for Eastern Air Lines were entirely given over to touting the smiles of the stewardesses; today Eastern's ads carefully specify price, service and routes. In 1969 Hertz highlighted its costlier car rentals

--"Man cannot live by four-door sedans alone." Now Hertz ads stress new low-budget rates: $99 a week, not including gas.

The thrift theme is also bobbing up in ads for durable goods that economy-minded customers might be expected to put off buying. Ads for Hotpoint appliances now boast that they "give you more than you pay for." The marketers of Toro's lawnfighter, a grass cutter promoted as a convenience item, now include in their ads the pitch that "feature for feature, dollar for dollar, it's the best buy you can make." In an appeal to the austerity mood of corporations, Cessna notes in ads for its new 414 twin turbo engine business plane that "you can't buy a pressurized twin for less"--a mere $137,950. Even the haughty emporium of Abercrombie & Fitch claims to hold the line on prices for sporting goods, billing itself as New York's "Tight Money" center.

Believing in Bargains. The brake on auto sales has all but eliminated the visceral promotions plugging four-barrel carburetors and twin cams to a rollicking dragstrip beat. "The American car-buying public is interested in economy," says Ford Advertising Manager Paul Tippett. "Our ads have to be practical rather than emotional." Accordingly, Ford's spring campaign has an "economy drive" theme. Can economy be made exciting? Answers Tippett: "Advertising does not have to be glamorous as long as it is not dull."

One new Ford TV commercial shows a Maverick Grabber in a circle of high-performance cars, while an announcer ticks off the model's cost advantages --thrifty price tag, smaller engine, lower insurance rates. No longer are Galaxies pictured majestically, if enigmatically, atop a desert plateau. The latest ads for the model state simply: "If you're thinking about buying a new car, we've got the facts on our side. Quiet facts. Strong facts. Value facts."

The first of the big three automakers to accentuate value was General Motors, and it is still pressing that theme farther than its competition. Newspaper promotions for Chevrolet are headlined: Right Car. Right Price. Right Now. To sweeten the deal, G.M. is lopping $148 off the list price of the Chevelle four-door and $147 from the Chevelle hardtop. Ads for Buick read: "Everybody is looking for a bargain. Here's one you can believe in." The Chrysler-Plymouth Division promotes its Barracuda sports car by comparing its cost with competing models of G.M. and Ford. "Even the price is beautiful," notes the ad.

The current campaign for American Motors has Chairman Roy Chapin positioned before a string of A.M.C. models under the headline: "I can't believe that people enjoy paying more for a car than they have to." Mary Wells Lawrence, president of Wells, Rich, Greene, the agency that produced the ad, made her reputation with frivolous promotions like painting Braniff Airways planes in pastel colors and suiting up the stewardesses in Pucci pajamas. Such stunts, she agrees, would not work today. "You can't emphasize fantastic luxury," she says. "What smells right at the moment is sweetness, honesty and a clear explanation of value."

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.