Selling with Character

Abstract

Gentlepersons, I know that many of you are skeptical about lending the name of your organization to any crass commercial enterprises. And frankly, despite Professor Wright's invitation to me, I suspect that to many of you Swift, Clements, Shaw, and Allen, with its position as the volume leader of the advertising business, is synonymous with Crass Commerce. Let me reassure you: I think such skepticism is a healthy thing-I was skeptical too when I first explored the idea of using literary characters to endorse commercial goods and services. If some consumers object to Geraldine Ferraro's plugging Pepsi, we should pause over their possible reactions to Arthur Dimmesdale's endorsing Vick's Vapo-Rub (relieves chest pain, fast, fast, fast). But the more I thought about it, the more I became convinced that it was both an idea whose time had come and an idea that would be mutually beneficial. For we are planning to use the power of advertising not just to create the consumer's desire for the various products of our free enterprise system but also to arouse Mr., Ms., and Mrs. Consumer's passion for Masterworks of Literature. We at Swift, Clements, Shaw, and Allen think the marketplace is ripe for such a campaign. Professor Wright thinks I might convince you as well. I understand from Professor Wright that you and your colleagues believe you could have much more success teaching Western literature, much more satisfactory experiences connecting Shakespeare, Flaubert, Yeats, and Woolf to their own cultures and to ours, if your students were already somehow connected to their works. By joining forces with us, you can get that connection. Together we can see to it that no one walks into a freshman literature class without knowing who Pamela Andrews, Emma Bovary, Sancho Panza-you name the character-is.