Essential McLuhan 16 Obviously the dramatic ad is a maker of “patterns of living” as much as the speech and gestures of movie idols. The peculiar idiom of a dead-end kid or a psychological freak may thus be sent up to the firing line of a nationwide advertising campaign to provide temporary emotional strategies for millions of adolescents: A wishful but futile gent beside a self-possessed girl on a love-seat: “I love you! said Pete. ‘I like you, too!’ said Ann. ‘Tell me more,’ said Pete. ‘You look so nice, especially around the neck.’ ‘Ah,’ said Pete. ‘That is my Arrow Collar.’… P.S.Tough, Pete. But remember—where there’s an Arrow, can a girl be far behind?” The ads help old and young to “get hep.” An extremely popular technique is the dramatic sequence presented in four or five separate scenes: Tommy comes home from school with a black eye and is questioned by his lovely young mother. He reluctantly tells her that the kids have been taunting him about how his father is going out with other women. He has had to defend his mother’s sex-appeal. Mortified, she hastens to get the appropriate toothpaste. Next morning, Mom, radiant in panties and bra’, brushing her teeth in the bathroom, tells Tommy “it works.” Later, Tommy and his friends peek round the corner into the living-room where Dad is waltzing Mom around to radio music. “Gee,” says one of the kids, “looks like he’s going to haul off and kiss her.” “Yep,” says Tommy, “you can’t say my Dad hangs around with other girls now.” This sort of Ad appears in the Sunday Comic Section. Reaching the Juvenile Market. “Success story of a man in a high position.” Picture of blithesome business man seated aloft in the petals of a huge daffodil: “Sitting pretty? You bet…this fellow knows how to win and influence customers! He keeps track of their important business events and honors each occasion by sending wonderful fresh flowers by Wire.” The wit of the pictorial feature includes an allusion to Jack’s bean-stalk. A nearly nude debutante with zestful abandon applying perfume and sparkling at the reader: “I’m using ‘Unconditional Surrender’ since he got 6NX Appeal!” “How can you get 6NX Appeal?…by using the only blades created by the scientific, secret 6NX process…. ‘Single’ men can reach for a star, too!” This is typical of the indirect approach to the American male. Psychological tests prove that he is shy of direct efforts to interest him in glamorizing himself. As social catalysts the ads help also to overcome boy-girl shyness. The girl spots 6NX or some other approved mark of compliance with nationally accredited goods. The boy smells “Unconditional Surrender,” and the first thing you know they’re able to converse. College courses in “charm” and “gallantry” may soon be unnecessary. A beautiful girl seated by the telephone while Mom, troubled, hovers in door-way: “Borderline Anaemia deprives a girl of glamor…and dates! Medical science says: Thousands who have pale faces—whose strength is at low ebb—may have a blood deficiency. So many girls are ‘too tired’ to keep up with the crowd—watch romance pass them by because they haven’t the energy to make them attractive!” These ads console and encourage the forlorn by picturing the solitude and neglect suffered by the most ravishing chicks. They analyse the causes of every type of human failure and indicate the scientifically certified formula for “instantaneous or money-back results.” The fault is not in our stars but our jars that we are underlings. They display the most ordinary persons surrounded by luxury and old-world charm, suggesting that “a prince and a castle are given away free with every package.” The most trashy types of food, crockery, or furniture are exhibited in palatial circumstances. And this “law of