[To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.] SIR,- -It is ridiculous
to speak of advertising as the "noisy trumpeting of dubious wares " : are not some of our great thinkers and best artists employed in the profession ? Has not a government, a country, an empire, called advertising to its aid ? Montaigne's register is likely to remain uncreated. Am I to advertise that I sell soap merely because someone is walking the streets of London with a dirty face, which might be detrimental to his character ?
Montaigme's (and incidentally Mr. Angell's) idea is alto- gether impracticable : it is advertising in its crudest form. Your correspondent's idea of the advertising profession is based on Montaigne's 400 years old idea. We have pro- gressed since then : advertising is a science, an art, and the life-blood of modern commerce and industry, not a philan- thropic institution.—I am, Sir, &e.,
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