Advertising Face Bleaches, Powders, Etc...

( Originally Published 1902 )

One pleasant summer afternoon, while seated in my office, a gentleman entered. He soon told his story. He had just secured control of a certain line of cosmetics-not even locally well-known, but possessing merits which should be well-known and he was willing to back this advertising desire with several thousand dollars.

After some consultation we decided upon a plan of action. He went back to his office and sent me several samples of his goods.

In the meantime I framed a letter which my typewriter soon struck off and sent to about a hundred well-known actresses and prominent women, who looked upon advertising as a highly desirable element of their daily existence.

This letter was to the effect that the cosmetic—a sample of which went with the epistle—was highly meritorious and was about to be widely advertised, and that if, after a short trial, the preparation was found to be as represented a few lines to that effect would be appreciated with the intention of using the testimonial in our advertising. Naturally the writer herself would gain some free publicity.

Nearly all responded without much delay—and most of them sent their photographs. A booklet was prepared from this material and quite some space was bought in the principal metropolitan papers. The advertising at once "struck oil," the sales bounded up to the degree where it was necessary to secure added facilities for the preparation and marketing of these cosmetics. Success instantly came and remained ever since. To-day a large floor space on Broadway is necessary to this ever increasing business. The advertising is kept up in the leading New York papers. Such in brief is the advertising story of one of the most popular preparations to aid and enhance feminine beauty to-day on the market.

I can conceive of no better way to advertise this line. It costs nothing beyond the asking to get a testimonial from a "public beauty "-public people as a rule are only to ready to rush into print upon the slightest provocation-and odd as it may seem, no one can so influence her more retiring sisterhood, striving for outword charm and beauty as the woman constantly in public prints and constantly in the public eye.

The desire to be beautiful is ingrained in the very soul of womankind. It is the power over man that has never failed since the days of Adam and Eve. To enhance this beauty—to prevent the progress of time, of care, of disease—to be always charming, witching and youthful is an argument that is irrestible. Where is the woman who can withstand it?

See the crowded "beauty parlors"—ask the always busy masseurs—ask the thousand and one "beauty doctors" who flourish from the Atlantic to the Pacific and the answer will be that woman wants to be beautiful. There you have the keynote of advertising face bleaches, powders, etc.