Customer Reviews

From Those Wonderful Folks Who Gave You Pearl Harbor: Front Line Dispatches from the Advertising War

5 star:		(12)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Like the reviewer above, I read this book when I was in college and it's one of the reasons I'm an advertising copywriter today. Great anecdotes and the story of modern advertising during its formative years. I must have read this book some five times. Della Femina and George Lois are still my heroes (Alas, The Art of Advertising by Lois is also out of print).

I read this book in junior high school and it made advertising seem like so much fun and so interesting that I am now, like Mr. Della Femina, a copywriter in Manhattan. It is not as glamorous or as lucrative for me as it has been for him, but I'm not complaining. There are dozens of great anecdotes, one of which provides the title of the book. Unfortunately, I lent it to a work associate, who lent it to a girl at the agency who he was trying to date, and I never saw it again. So if you find a copy, read it and hang on to it

Work in advertising? See how little it's changed in the last 35 or 40 years by reading this snarky and cutting look inside the biz. Learn about the pioneering admen (and women, though precious few in those days) who got the account for the first feminine hygiene deodorant spray! Thrill to stories of the first efforts to market Japanese products when everybody KNEW nothing good came from there. Japanese cars?? HA!!

So times have changed a little. But the business remains the same (i.e., utterly absurd), as these backstage stories show.

I read this book when it first was published; I must have been in high school at the time. After all these years--20? 30?--I'm still laughing!

As events would transpire, Mr. Della Femina and I ended up living in the same town. Okay, so maybe I live here and he owns it. My favorite reading in this town is the column that Jerry writes for the weekly newspaper...which he happens to own. I usually make copies of this column and send it to friends. Believe me, we all howl.

Considering his prominence in the place where we both live, there's not a month that passes that I don't tell somebody about this book. It was as interesting as it was funny, a primer on the advertising industry written by a man of integrity. (Did you hear the one about the time he got arrested for displaying pumpkins in front of the gourmet shop he owns? Seriously, folks....) Very simply, I think that Jerry Della Femina is a genius. Of course, I give Jerry full credit for the title of this memoir, both the way he crafted the phrase and the sentiment behind it.

A dear friend was doing a very important business deal with a prominent Japanese firm. He and his wife invited me to dinner to help entertain the company's rep on his trip to NYC. After they had invited me, they remembered my enthusiasm for this autobiography. Then, they started to worry that I was going to tell the client (who spoke perfect English) all about Jerry's book. They prevailed upon me to exercise restraint. It was difficult, but I held my tongue.

There are some books which, as a reader, one just can't understand why a publisher would let go out of print. As far as I'm concerned, WONDERFUL FOLKS heads my list.

Jerry Della Femina claims advertising is the most fun you can have with your clothes on. While I might dispute THAT statement a bit (I've been making similar claims about my own profession, journalism), Della Femina does make his point eloquently and elegantly. The book reads as if you were sitting in the room with the author and listening to him sharing great stories with you, and with you only. I have known most of the insides before, but still, the read was absolutely hilarious. And while I was laughing I almost didn't realize there is a serious message behind all this. What message? Read it and find out for yourselves.

Great book. It's a bit dated, so it may not be relevant to those looking to learn about today's ad industry (I'm not in advertising, so I can't be sure about that), but it's hilarious. Feels like Mad Men if it were written by Hunter Thompson.

On the surface, this insider's view of the advertising game may seem dated. But if you really look, you realize that though the set dressings have changed...the same idiot play is still topping the bill.

I bought this used from an Amazon dealer after seeing it mentioned in a New York Times article about my favorite television series - "Mad Men". The book doesn't really document the kind of lifestyle and businesses practices lampooned in Mad Men but it's a fun and interesting book if you are old enough to remember the products and the ad campaigns.

It's not hard to see why the book is no longer in print. Readers who are unfamiliar with Braniff Airlines or the book "Portnoy's Complaint" will find many of the references to then-current events and popular culture obscure and confusing. The book was evidently written in August or September of 1969 as the author refers to a huge rock festival in Bethel, New York but not by the name "Woodstock".

The book drags a bit at times - there is more information here about competitive practices in the late 60s Advertising Business than most people are going to care about. But if you enjoy learning about how and why American beer drinkers would never want a "Lite Beer" and how advertising would never again be as dumb as the Certs commercials ("it's a breath mint" "no, it's a candy mint") it's an extremely funny and entertaining read.

Like the reviewer above, I read this book when I was in college and it's one of the reasons I'm an advertising copywriter today. Great anecdotes and the story of modern advertising during its formative years. I must have read this book some five times. Della Femina and George Lois are my heroes (Alas, Lois' The Art of Advertising is also out of print).

This is a must-read for anyone who is in or is thinking about going into advertising as a career. It gives a real inside look of the insanity of the big agencies and really the industry itself. Even though it was written a number of years ago, it's still very relevant. Technology may have changed, but people really haven't.