I have a problem.

      I have two brothers. One is in advertising, the other was put to death in the electric chair
      for murder. My mother died from insanity when I was three. My two sisters are prostitutes
      and my father sells drugs to junior high school students.

      Recently, I met a girl who was just released from a reformatory where she served time
      for smothering her illegitimate child to death, and I want to marry her.

      My problem is, if I marry this girl should I tell her about my brother who's in advertising?

                                                                                                -- JV

This poke at advertising crossed my path early in my career in the form of a xerox circulating the creative department. Although we never figured out who wrote it, we knew it had to be someone in the business.

Ad folks know how cynical the public is about advertising. Studies show that almost 90% of the public does not believe that advertising tells the truth. But what the public doesn't know is how cynical about advertising we ad folks are. At a recent trade event a top agency creative director was asked how the ad business has changed in the past 20 years. His response?

"It used to take a couple years before you got cynical... now it just takes a couple months."

And yet I've noticed that the same cynical folks who lament the business will just as quickly brag about their latest TV campaign. There's a definite love/hate thing that ad folks have with the business. We love the creativity, money, and glamour, but hate the politics, high stress, and insecurity. I suspect it's this very yin-yang volatility that makes the business so interesting. Advertising certainly isn't a perfect business, but at least it ain't boring.

Before going further I should provide a bit of background. I'm not a reporter or pipe-smoking professor at some Midwestern university. I'm an ad guy. I create ads and I've worked on Madison Avenue for over twenty years. Between staff and freelance I've worked at more ad agencies than I can fit on a resume -- a couple bad, most damned good. I've also had the good fortune of working with some of the best people in the business. I've worked on every product from infant anal thermometers to God and I've had my own award-winning creative boutique. And in addition to the Clios I've won, I've received honors at The UN and The White House. I've also been fired four times.

When I began writing this book I discovered that there are about 650 others on the market that relate to advertising. Upon further investigation I discovered that the majority of them are "How to" books and others are written by people who haven't worked within a $500 airfare of Madison Avenue. The rest seem to be written by people who are dead. This doesn't mean that there aren't a few good books about advertising. A personal favorite is one called, "From those wonderful folks who brought you Pearl Harbor", by Jerry Della Femina. It's just been over 30 years since it was written.

I should also mention that this book was not my idea. It was suggested to me by a top, New York advertising recruiter who told me my ad biz stories -- in her opinion -- were worthy of a book. She said she'd heard thousands of stories during her career, but none quite as off-center as mine. I wasn't sure if I should feel grateful or suicidal.

My other inspiration for this book is you. Unless you're a member a religious cult in a Third World country, you are bombarded with something like 3,000 ads every day. Considering that you're only exposed to the side of advertising we make you see, you deserve to see the other side of advertising.

John Follis
July 2002

©2002 John Follis. All rights reserved.