The following poem appeared in the October 1992 issue of Signs of the Times magazine, but it was recited at the 1992 annual meeting of the Traffic Audit Bureau for Media Management by Charles Osgood. We don’t know if he penned the words or was quoting someone else, but the words still ring true today.
Somewhere along the line,
Although I think it’s somehow absurd,
Salesmanship, of all things,
Became a dirty word.
There’s a notion in this country,
And it is much too strong,
That somehow selling anything
To anyone is wrong.
And that any kind of advertising,
Since it helps to sell,
Is tainted, and therefore,
To be looked down upon as well.
Which means that any billboard
Any commercial, any ad,
To sell the public anything
Is, by definition, bad!
Although this is ridiculous,
I’m afraid to say,
There are some nowadays
Who seem to feel that way.
They say they want a prosperous
Economy and such.
But if something’s good for business,
They don’t like it very much.
They want to be the ones who say,
What people ought to buy,
What they should spend their money on
What products they should try.
They’re the busybodies
Whose apparent goal
Is not to let things happen
But to exercise control.
To legislate and regulate
And manage or remove
Any aspect of our lives
Of which they do not approve.
They think they know what’s best for us
And selling they deplore
And frankly I don’t think that we
Should take that anymore.