Changes

A history of Ad Council published by itself in 2002 described its origins as arising from the hostility to business after the Depression. "Advertising people were concerned that criticism could erode the credibility of advertising and lead to legislation that would tax its use and regulate its content," it stated. By 1940 and 1941 the dominant view was that the best response would be to "run ads explaining the economic value of advertising in creating jobs, wealth and low prices." Instead, James Webb Young proposed that what was needed was promotion of business but with advertising as just one component of it. On November 13-15 1941 the [[Association of National AdvertisiersAdvertisers]] (ANA) and the [[American Association of Advertising Agencies]] convened a meeting to canvass the future of advertising. At the meeting Young proposed public service advertising. "He saw this kind of communication as a powerful way to help people while rebuilding respect for American business and the competitive economic system which business had helped to create and needed to thrive, the Ad Council later wrote. <refname="Ad Council history"> Ad Council, ''[http://www.adcouncil.org/download.aspx?id=191 Matters of Choice: Advertising in the Public Interest The Advertising Council (1942-2002)'' undated 2002 (approx). 2.2MB file </ref>  "What will it profit us to win the battle of advertising and lose the battle of business?," Young asked. "Only through the dynamic economy can we maintain free enterprise, and with it, the advertising business. But let us do more," he said.  "It ought to be used for open propaganda in international relations, to create understanding and reduce friction. It ought to be used to wipe out such diseases of ignorance as childbed fever. It ought to do the nutritional job this country needs to have done. It ought to be the servant of music, of art, of literature and of all the forces of righteousness, even more than it is. When will we stop fighting over just the existing business and go back to selling advertising? When will we sell it into these new levels of usefulness, this larger stature?," he asked. <ref name="Ad Council history"/>