words that
attracted his attention to your advertisement, you have lost him
forever. You will have no opportunity to present to him the argument
that may follow. Your attention words are read by your maximum
audience. Your most attractive argument in its most striking form should
therefore be presented to them at once.

VII. Assignment III

Write a sentence presenting the arguments selected in Assignment II in
the strongest and most attractive sentences that you can devise. Reduce
the sentences to the single words that express the ideas most vividly.

VIII. Humor in Advertising

As an attention feature, a touch of humor is valuable in advertising. It
tends to put the reader into a pleasant frame of mind, a frame of mind
in which he is likely to listen more attentively to what you have to
say. It operates in the same way as the funny story that usually
prefaces the remarks of the after-dinner speaker. The humor, however,
must have a direct and unmistakable bearing on the body of your
advertising. Irrelevant humor is as much a waste of valuable advertising
space as an irrelevant illustration. Advertising space costs too much to
be used for anything but advertising. Grotesque illustrations and
far-fetched puns are no longer found in advertising columns, because
they have been found ineffective.

IX. Illustrations

In advertising practice the attention feature is frequently supplied by
an illustration showing the article advertised in the use that is
emphasized in the body of the advertisement, or in a way to illustrate
the special argument presented. The importance of the attention factor
is indicated by the large amount of space that is occupied by such
illustrations. Some experiments have indicated, however, that a
well-written attention line is fully as effective as an average
illustration.

X. Suggested Reading

Carl Schurz's _Life of Abraham Lincoln_.

XI. Memorize

IPHIGENEIA AND AGAMEMNON

Iphigeneia, when she heard her doom
At Aulis, and when all beside the king
Had gone away, took his right hand, and said:
"O father! I am young and very happy.
I do not think the pious Calchas heard
Distinctly what the goddess spake; old age
Obscures the senses. If my nurse, who knew
My voice so well, sometimes misunderstood,
While I was resting on her knee both arms,
And hitting it to make her mind my words,
And looking in her face, and she in mine,