AAVR Magazine

Last week in the midst of my web wanderings, I was inspired by an old advertisement that I read. Yes, I was inspired by an advertisement. Actually, anyone who knows me at all should not be surprised that I, paragon of character depth that I am, would be inspired by an advertisement. I’ve also been known to be inspired by tea bags, fortune cookies, the homeless, The Incredible Journey, country music and a squirrel outside of my window.

Of course, this is not just any advertisement. This was once voted as the greatest advertisement of all time. See, the story goes like this: Caddy had a new model out, which had some dependability issues (imagine that). Since reliability has been Cadillac’s USP (unique selling proposition), Packard was successfully increasing their sales by making a hoopla about the about quality issues in the press. Cadillac responded with the ad, only run once in the Saturday Evening Post January 2, 1915. The Brilliant copywriter Theodore MacManus (a fellow scot) wrote an triumphantly inspiring ad that never once mentioned Cadillac. It was successful because true or not, we all think of ourselves as leaders, bogged down by the critics, nay-sayers, haters, ill-wishers, guff-givers, armchair quarterbacks, worst-episode-everers and the IRS.

THE PENALTY OF LEADERSHIP

In every field of human endeavor, he that is first must perpetually live in the white light of publicity. Whether the leadership be vested in a man or in a manufactured product, emulation and envy are ever at work. In art, in literature, in music, in industry, the reward and the punishment are always the same. The reward is widespread recognition; the punishment, fierce denial and detraction. When a man’s work becomes a standard for the whole world, it also becomes a target for the shafts of the envious few. If his work be mediocre, he will be left severely alone - if he achieves a masterpiece, it will set a million tongues a-wagging. Jealousy does not protrude its forked tongue at the artist who produces a commonplace painting. Whatsoever you write, or paint, or play, or sing, or build, no one will strive to surpass or to slander you unless your work be stamped with the seal of genius. Long, long after a great work or a good work has been done, those who are disappointed or envious, continue to cry out that it cannot be done. Spiteful little voices in the domain of art were raised against our own Whistler as a mountback, long after the big would had acclaimed him its greatest artistic genius. Multitudes flocked to Bayreuth to worship at the musical shrine of Wagner, while the little group of those whom he had dethroned and displaced argued angrily that he was no musician at all. The little world continued to protest that Fulton could never build a steamboat, while the big world flocked to the river banks to see his boat steam by. The leader is assailed because he is a leader, and the effort to equal him is merely added proof of that leadership. Failing to equal or to excel, the follower seeks to depreciate and to destroy - but only confirms once more the superiority of that which he strives to supplant. There is nothing new in this. It is as old as the world and as old as human passions - envy, fear, greed, ambition, and the desire to surpass. And it all avails nothing. If the leader truly leads, he remains - the leader. Master-poet, master-painter, master-workman, each in his turn is assailed, and each holds his laurels through the ages. That which is good or great makes itself known, no matter how loud the clamor of denial. That which deserves to live - lives.

The ad was resurrected in 1967 and mailed on scrolls to Caddy owners — including one Elvis Presley. He immediately had it framed and it hung in his office. In fact, it’s still hanging on the wall in Graceland for visitors to appreciate today.