12
A u t o m a t ic A ge
March, 1931
ADVERTISING TH E COIN M ACH IN E
INDUSTRY
Address by JOHN S. K IN G , President King & W iley Co., Cleveland
Delivered at the Cleveland Convention February 23, 1931
Mr. President, ladies and gentlemen: A s
an interested on-looker on the coin machine
industry, I followed with a great deal of
interest the discussions this morning.
I
confess I had no idea that I might get in
on a private fight, but being of a pugnistic
tendency, I enjoyed it a lot. This fact is
so, as you know, that when the findings take
place, the on-lookers frequently get the
booty.
A t least you know this fact, that your
association or your competitive association,
or the manufacturers group, or whatever
group it may be, must have the support of
public opinion and if you haven’t brains
enough to agree among yourselves as to
what is good for you, it is a sign that you
can’t expect the public to agree. Without
taking sides, I give you that to chew on.
It isn’t my function to tell you what to do
in your own organization.
It happens the company I represent has
served a number of organizations and I may
say that almost every association I have
seen, Mr. President, has gone through sim
ilar stages when it was in swaddling
clothes, so that shouldn’t deter you.
It
shouldn’t be a great difficulty to iron out
your troubles if you think you have an
industry and if you don’t iron out your
troubles, you won’t have an industry.
The subject that is assigned to me this
morning, apart from the general observa
tions on your internal problems is advertis
ing of the coin machine industry. I no
ticed in this much discussed constitutional
amendment that one of the points deter
mined upon is that you have got to have in
formed public opinion. I think it is alto
gether fortunate that the public wasn’t here
this morning or if any reporters are here,
that you are able to control them. I am
sure the impression you want to get to the
public is an organized industry.
Advertising the coin machine industry.
A s a matter o f fact, you are in rather a
unique position, because you already adver
tise yourself.
Your machines have al
ready advertised you and the business has
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advertised itself, but whether the impression
that has ibeen gained is what you want is
the problem.
I have been quite struck in listening first
to Law Director Burton and then to Mr.
Humphrey and to your President and the
subsequent discussion, at the number of
times that this industry is cautioned against
the fate that may ibefall it as being called
the “ slot machine industry.” I think your
organization when you finally get it con
solidated, Mr. President, has got to handle
that subject without gloves. Such publicity
as you have received in the public press has
been on the slot machine industry,
Mr. Bond was right when he said I made
some investigation before I talked to you.
Among other things I did was to make a
field investigation, a small one, it is true,
but nevertheless a field investigation, and I
think you gentlemen might be a little
amazed to know the general opinion that
the public has of your industry. I will say
to you that of 27 people interviewed, 25 of
them meant slot machines and thought that
was what the industry was. Many of them
did not have the confidence in the services,
in the accuracy of the machines or the
products you think they ought to have.
W hy should you consider advertising?
After all is said and done, advertising is a
form of education and so you ladies and
gentlemen may consider I would like to have
you remove from your consciousness the
physical forms of advertising and get back
of it what it intends to do. There isn’t a
man or woman either in this audience this
morning that doesn’t have habits that have
been formed by a man or woman sitting in
a room writing anonymously on a subject,
a service, or a merchandise which has sub
sequently become a habit of the American
nation. It is a phenomena we know to ex
ist. I don’t know how many men shaved
here this morning. It is a prosperous look
ing group, but I venture to say the ma
jority of you shaved with safety razors. If
you think you exercised your own logic, you
didn’t. A s a matter of fact, the buying pro
cess and most certainly in your industry
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