Saatchi: Ads Seen As “Immeasurable And Unpopular”

The advertising industry is in recession because it suffers from the “double burden” of being “apparently immeasurable in its effect and increasingly unpopular”, according to Maurice Saatchi, writing in today’s Times.

Saatchi argues that despite a “long stream of heroic attempts”, advertising has still yet to be transformed into a “natural science”. The industry has not yet “found its Newton” claims the M&C Saatchi partner.

He goes on to say that neither has it found its Churchill- “a robust and powerful advocate”. More and more people, he says, “See advertising as the purveyor of romantic delusions, invented by the unscrupulous to prey upon the innocent widows and orphans of humanity.” Both these factors make it easy for companies to cut advertising when times are hard.

Saatchi goes on to defend his industry, however, saying that people who carry these low opinions of advertising also “have a low opinion of the public. Whereas, in my view, the public are so highly intelligent that they prefer someone with a message to get to the point, as advertising does.”

The Times: 020 7782 5000 www.thetimes.co.uk

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