Don't Let Hard Times Derail Your Advertising - BusinessWeek

Even in a climate of fear, it's unwise to start knocking your rivals. And ads help reassure people it's business as normal Life is not a zero-sum game. O.K., maybe in politics it is. If your candidate wins, the other guy loses. That's one reason why political advertising tends to get increasingly malevolent as campaigns approach their climax. (Fasten your seat belt, because this year's campaign season looks to be worse than ever.) In commerce, however, it's possible for competing companies to all win. Innovation and advances in productivity actually enlarge the pie, making it unnecessary for competitors to fight over the same slice. That's why vitriolic advertising is not the norm in a free economy. Right now, however, our economy isn't so free. The mortgage meltdown and credit crisis have set heads spinning in Washington and... [read full story]