According to the estimate of a prominent advertising firm, above 90 per cent, of the earning capacity of the prominent nostrums is represented by their advertising. And all this advertising is based on the well-proven theory of the public's pitiable ignorance and gullibility in the vitally important matter of health.
Interpretation
This quote critiques the heavy reliance on advertising in healthcare, reflecting on public naivety regarding health products.
Samuel Hopkins Adams emphasizes the significant role that advertising plays in the profitability of health-related products, suggesting that consumers are often misled by their lack of knowledge and naivety. He points out that a large portion of these products' earning potential relies not on their actual effectiveness but rather on the persuasive and often misleading nature of their marketing strategies.
In practice
In a discussion on ethics in advertising during a marketing conference.
With a few honorable exceptions the press of the United States is at the beck and call of the patent medicines. Not only do the newspapers modify news possibly affecting these interests, but they sometimes become their agents.
If you believe in subjective morality, why do you lock your doors at night?
The more corrupt the state, the more numerous the laws.
Like the British Constitution, she owes her success in practice to her inconsistencies in principle.
I'm not personally obsessed with death. At a certain age, the light that you live in is inhabited by the shades - it 'tis.
Re-telling the Christian story is the essence of my vocation. That has been going on since the Evangelists in one form or another.
I always think that I’m still this 13-year old boy that doesn’t really know how to be an adult, pretending to live my life, taking notes for when I’ll really have to do it.
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