There Are Times to Hate Advertising
There are times I really hate advertising. I happen to really like Kwik Trip stores, but this ad is exactly why I get so frustrated with my line of work — it seems we are willing to stretch the truth until it breaks. This “Lowest Legal Price” is a small transgression, but it is eroding the industry. 
Is there really a “legal price” to sell beer? I had a free beer sample at a grocery store. Maybe I broke the law, or the manager of the store broke the law.
According to a study titled “Americans Are Fed Up With Bad Ads,” nearly 90% of American adults 18 and older are making tangible efforts to limit the irrelevant ads they are willing to see before “they ignore a company completely.” This latest data is not a vote of confidence for ad performance.
There are so many phrases that are truly meaningless that control the marketing of products and services. These phrases are killing credibility:
- Made with 100% pure _____
- Risk free
- 75% off
- Scientifically formulated
- When they are gone, they’re gone
So let’s all endeavor to be more honest in our advertising and pledge to run truthful copy in our marketing. It’s the legal thing to do.
Mark Mathis
Mark wrote his first direct-mail fundraising letter in 1981 for the University of Iowa Center for Advancement. The effort raised a few million dollars in undiscovered wills and legacy gifts. From that day forward Mark discovered a love of the big idea that moves the needle.
After 12 years at KWWL, Mark became a business owner as a co-founder of ME&V — rebranded as AMPERAGE in 2015. After 25 years of leading creative teams in video production, graphic design, PR, writing and web development, Mark transitioned out of ownership in 2021. Today he serves in an employee role as special projects consultant.
He is creatively ambidextrous — son of an artist and engineer — and famous for distilling complex ideas down to a few words and a few visuals. Mark is a writer. When he found that many nonprofits struggled with complex branding puzzles, he wrote the book, “NonProfit-NonMarketing .” He also wrote a novel called “Reenactment.”
Mark is an active blogger OneMinuteMarketer® with nearly 1,000 readers each week on LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter. One of his most popular YouTube videos is on “How to Look Good on Zoom.”
One of Mark’s fondest business memories was being named to INC 500 two times and attending the INC 500 conference with other winners. Mark is considered by some a Civil War expert (and that explains his novel). Mark also served as an adjunct professor in the business and in the communications departments at Wartburg College.
Mark is a graduate of the University of Iowa and is currently vice president of the University of Iowa Journalism and Mass Communications Advisory Board.
Mark is married to state Sen. Liz Mathis, and the two love to travel, even when it means being trapped by a volcano in the Czech Republic for three weeks.