Date: December 6, 1930
Location: Northampton, MA
Summary: Article advocating for advertising.
(Original document available here)
When I was a boy in the hills of Vermont twelve miles from the railroad the only merchandise I saw was in the country store. But my horizon was widened by certain publications containing pictures and descriptions of things that appealed to youth. I read and bought. The man who supplied them became rich and died a great philanthropist. He advertised.
It is essential in the first instance to make good merchandise. But that is not enough. It is just as essential to create a desire for it. That is advertising.
The person or association of persons who can produce that combination of excellence and demand is performing a real public service. They enlarge the mental horizon and provide new forms of utility and beauty. The material benefits pass over into spiritual benefits. Culture and charity are the by-products.
A country that is spending two billion dollars annually in the production and application of beauty lotions has resources with which to make large purchases of what it concludes it wants. The only way for the people to become acquainted with what they want is through judicious advertising. Goods not worth advertising are not worth selling.
Citation: Calvin Coolidge Says: Dispatches Written by Former-President Coolidge and Syndicated to Newspapers in 1930-1931 (Calvin Coolidge Memorial Foundation)
The Coolidge Foundation gratefully acknowledges the volunteer efforts of Jill Leavitt who prepared this document for digital publication.