Bates's Bait

More in anger than in wisdom, Chairman Rosser Reeves, 49, of Ted Bates & Co., took pen in hand and wrote one of the most remarkable ads in recent years. Splashed full page in seven major newspapers last week at a cost of $23,574, it was Reeves's rebuttal to Federal Trade Commission charges that his agency had deceived TV viewers by shaving phony sandpaper in commercials for Colgate-Palmolive's Rapid Shave and by doctoring Standard Brands' Blue Bonnet Margarine with liquid drops that were billed as "flavor gems" (TIME, Jan. 25). Reeves's ad was addressed, in 84-point bold type, to Earl W. Kintner, FTC's mild-mannered but sharp-minded chairman. It looked as if long-haired Rosser Reeves was taking a swing at the judge while his case was still in court.

The ad was a prime example of Reeves's hard-sell tactics, which have helped boost the agency's billings from $4,900,000 to $120 million in his 19 years at Bates. These tactics have also inspired the FTC to fire off more complaints against Bates than other agencies. Among its accounts that have also been named by the FTC: Life cigarettes, Rolaids, Carter's Little "Liver" Pills. What miffed Reeves most was that until two months ago, the FTC had usually tipped him and the advertiser that a complaint was coming, given them a chance to argue their case beforehand or to clean up the controversial ad and thus kill the complaint. This time, said Reeves, the FTC simply issued complaints.

"Now, Mr. Kintner, without warning, you have changed your rules," wrote Reeves. "In front-page news stories and in big, black, damaging headlines, your commission has accused a number of great American companies of deceptive and dishonest advertising. Stripped of legalistic verbiage, these crippling press indictments rest on flimsy ground indeed--mere subjective opinion that minor props and artifices have resulted in horrendous deceits. We used an artifice no more deceptive than the make-up you yourself, Mr. Kintner, will be asked to wear the next time you step before a TV lens."

In Washington, FTC's Kintner, 47, patiently puffed his pipe, proudly showed off the favorable mail that came in after the ad. (Sample: "Hogwash. Thanks, Mr. Kintner--Glenn Lewis. Average American. Elkin, N.C.") In Manhattan, other ad agency bosses gagged on their Gibsons, labeled the ad "a phony." Snapped one: "A deplorable exhibition of advertising sophistry at its worst. The public will say, 'That's the way Madison Avenue reacts to criticism--they're thieves and crooks.' "

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.