Advertising Quotes

• Advertising is the art of convincing people to spend money they don't have for something they don't need.

  Will Rogers

  Funny, Smile, Money

  114 Copy quote

• The more informative your advertising, the more persuasive it will be.

  David Ogilvy

  Marketing, Economy, Persuasive

  David Ogilvy (1963). “Confessions of an advertising man”, Holiday House

  76 Copy quote

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• Advertising is an environmental striptease for a world of abundance.

  Marshall McLuhan

  Marketing, Environmental, World

  Marshall McLuhan (2015). “Culture Is Our Business”, p.2, Wipf and Stock Publishers

  49 Copy quote

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• The consumer isn't a moron; she is your wife.

  David Ogilvy

  Funny, Sarcastic, Witty

  Confessions of an Advertising Man (1963) ch. 5

  92 Copy quote

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• Many a small thing has been made large by the right kind of advertising.

  Mark Twain

  Wise, Witty, Kindness

  1889 A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court, ch.22.

  21 Copy quote

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• I have always believed that writing advertisements is the second most profitable form of writing. The first, of course, is ransom notes.

  Phil Dusenberry

  Writing, Marketing, Ransom

  55 Copy quote

• Advertising is about norms and values, aspirations and prejudices. It is about culture.

  Anil Ambani

  Prejudice, Culture, Aspiration

  11 Copy quote

• Nobody has ever built a brand by imitating somebody else's advertising.

  David Ogilvy

  Irritating, Advertisement Negative, Brands

  David Ogilvy (1963). “Confessions of an advertising man”, Holiday House

  17 Copy quote

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• Advertising is the greatest art form of the 20th century.

  Marshall McLuhan

  Art, Business, Journey

  19 Copy quote

• Living in an age of advertisement, we are perpetually disillusioned.

  J. B. Priestley

  Age, Perfect Life, Disillusionment

  13 Copy quote

• Advertising degrades the people it appeals to; it deprives them of their will to choose.

  C.P. Snow

  Aggravation, People, Appeals

  9 Copy quote

• Nobody who bought a drill actually wanted a drill. They wanted a hole. Therefore, if you want to sell drills, you should advertise information about making holes – NOT information about drills!

  Perry Marshall

  Business, Entrepreneur, Want

  27 Copy quote

• We grew up founding our dreams on the infinite promise of American advertising.

  Zelda Fitzgerald

  Dream, Money, Promise

  Zelda Fitzgerald (2013). “Save Me the Waltz: A Novel”, p.226, Simon and Schuster

  9 Copy quote

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• Writing is the most fun you can have by yourself.

  Terry Pratchett

  Sex, Fun, Writing

  22 Copy quote

• You can tell the ideals of a nation by its advertisements.

  Norman Douglas

  Business, Nigeria Independence, Idealism

  SouthWind ch. 7 (1917)

  15 Copy quote

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• A good advertisement is one which sells the product without drawing attention to itself.

  David Ogilvy

  Business, Drawing, Attention

  David Ogilvy (1963). “Confessions of an advertising man”, Holiday House

  84 Copy quote

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• Advertising people who ignore research are as dangerous as generals who ignore decodes of enemy signals.

  David Ogilvy

  Business, People, Enemy

  8 Copy quote

• The relationship between a manufacturer and his advertising agency is almost as intimate as the relationship between a patient and his doctor. Make sure that you can life happily with your prospective client before you accept his account.

  David Ogilvy

  Agency, Doctors, Perspective

  David Ogilvy (1963). “Confessions of an advertising man”, Holiday House

  8 Copy quote

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• The most powerful element in advertising is the truth.

  William Bernbach

  Powerful, Marketing, Elements

  13 Copy quote

• It is flagrantly dishonest for an advertising agent to urge consumers to buy a product which he would not allow his own wife to buy.

  David Ogilvy

  Wife, Agents, Consumers

  David Ogilvy (1963). “Confessions of an advertising man”, Holiday House

  9 Copy quote

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• Our society's values are being corrupted by advertising's insistence on the equation:
  youth equals popularity, popularity equals success, success equals happiness.

  John Fisher, 1st Baron Fisher

  Success, Society, Youth

  8 Copy quote

• I avoid clients for whom advertising is only a marginal factor in their marketing mix. They have an awkward tendency to raid their advertising appropriations whenever they need cash for other purposes.

  David Ogilvy

  Awkward, Marketing, Needs

  David Ogilvy (1963). “Confessions of an advertising man”, Holiday House

  11 Copy quote

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• On the average, five times as many people read the headline as read the body copy. When you have written your headline, you have spent eighty cents out of your dollar.

  David Ogilvy

  Business, Average, People

  9 Copy quote

• Much of the messy advertising you see on television today is the product of committees. Committees can criticize advertisements, but they should never be allowed to create them.

  David Ogilvy

  Business, Design, Television

  David Ogilvy (1963). “Confessions of an advertising man”, Holiday House

  9 Copy quote

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• The trade of advertising is now so near to perfection that it is not easy to propose any improvement. But as every art ought to be exercized in due subordination to the public good, I cannot but propose it as a moral question to these masters of the public ear, whether they do not sometimes play too wantonly with our passions.

  Samuel Johnson

  Art, Passion, Play

  Samuel Johnson, Arthur Murphy (1836). “The works of Samuel Johnson, LL. D.: with an essay on his life and genius”, p.395

  7 Copy quote

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