On working at a firm, “Try to learn from everyone, high and low…he finally leads who first learns to serve….always think of the other fellow’s viewpoint and try to get him to think of yours…Believe in yourself and grow creatively every minute so that you will justify your belief.”
He had a rather limited view of public relations, perhaps shaped by his brief foray into the political campaign business, working against Upton Sinclair’s bid for Governor of California in 1934. Sinclair, a well known author and muckraker (The Jungle on the meat industry in 1906) frightened business with promises of higher taxes and communal industry.
Lasker mobilized his agency, finding new ways to reach voters, including a series of radio soap operas such as The Bennetts, in which members of a middle class family worried about the effects of Sinclairism (no more church choir if atheist governor elected).
The favorite billboard ad was a supposed quote from Sinclair (taken out of context), “If I am elected Governor, I expect one of the unemployed in the US will hop the first freights to California.”
He linked the “toasting” process of Luckies to “reduced acidity on the throat that “protected the voice.” He recruited Metropolitan Opera star sopranos to give advertising testimonials and did not even have to pay them—they just wanted the publicity associated with the endorsements. He later initiated a campaign that suggested a weight loss regimen via smoking, “Reach for a Lucky instead of a sweet.”
I feel that I did well enough. Then President Clinton reached for his speech and had a perfectly clean text because his staff had provided a plastic sheath.
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