Quotation of the Day…

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… is from page 224 of Milton & Rose Friedman’s great 1980 book, Free To Choose:

What about the claim that consumers can be led by the nose by advertising? Our answer is that they can’t – as numerous expensive advertising fiascoes testify. One of the greatest duds of all time was the Edsel automobile, introduced by the Ford Motor Company and promoted by a major advertising campaign. More basically, advertising is a cost of doing business, and the businessman wants to get the most for his money. Is it not more sensible to try to appeal to the real wants or desires of consumers than to try to manufacture artificial wants or desires? Surely it will generally be cheaper to sell them something that meets wants they already have than to create an artificial want.