XVII.
GETTING OVER THE PURENESS OF YOUR FOOD PRODUCTS BY A FILM
The motion picture stands in need of a nickname. The one most appropriate would be, “Conveyor of things as they are.” Not only are audiences regaled on a feast of comedy and drama, but the aid of the screen is often sought to educate them in reforms of various kinds.
And this is where the food manufacturer can hitch the movies to his next campaign. Let me tell you this much—the screen is no ordinary publicity medium. It possesses a pleasing individuality of its own. This is the art of vision. You don’t let your pen loose and turn out printed matter that but half satisfies. In these days of food adulterating, the alert housewife wants to be shown, so the case of the man from Missouri is not an isolated one. The film accomplishes more than printers’ ink, and allows you to take people through your plant, which it is often not convenient to do in person.
Before we proceed further, I want to call your attention to a two-reel drama which was recently put on public exhibition. It is a lecture in celluloid, and was produced by the Kalen Company, in collaboration with Professor Lewis B. Allyn, who has achieved fame in connection with the Pure Food movement. He also acts in this gripping screen drama. The Ladies’ World ran the fiction version.
The story opens with Jack, the son of a canned-food manufacturer, entering his father’s business. Jack is thoroughly disgusted with the plant, for dirt is allowed to accumulate and the employees are sweated. Some are so ill that their infections are liable to be transferred to the consumer. One of the employees dies of ptomaines as the result of consuming the canned goods, and Jack is urged to reform the existing state of affairs. To this end he receives instructions from Professor Allyn, but Jack’s father will not listen to effecting a reform, for wealth comes first. The manufacturer then tries to bribe the Professor to place his goods upon the Westfield Pure Food List, but the Professor will only agree when he makes the needed alterations.
It happens that Jack is in love with the daughter of another food manufacturer, and Jack’s father visits the plant. The cleanliness and the quality of the raw materials impress him greatly.
His little daughter steals a jar of his fruit jelly from the closet and is taken seriously ill. Then he learns that his factory is on fire, and we leave him vowing to build a factory which shall be sanitary, the material of the best, while the health of the employees will be cared for.
At the lowest estimate, this was seen by five million out of the total twenty million movie fans in this country, besides being read by two million or more Ladies’ World readers. The film is sure to make the public more discriminating than ever. Here, then, is the ripe opportunity to gain their patronage by following it up with an effective advertising film.
This is not mere theory, for the Postum Cereal Company recently had a motion picture taken at their Battle Creek factory depicting the making of Post Toasties, Grape Nuts and Instant Postum. The healthy conditions under which they are made were well brought out. Human interest—which fans are so partial to—was added by introducing several bunches of happy children enjoying the products heartily. An exhibitor was selected in each town to show the film for a small consideration, the campaign proving very successful.
Cadbury Brothers, an English firm renowned for their cocoa and chocolate, got out a very interesting film to boost their cocoa. It showed their cocoa plantation in Trinidad, the natives gathering the pods, and various other stages until the cocoa reached the consumer. Their other film went further, with special emphasis on Bourneville, their garden city. The most valuable points presented were these: The picturesque surroundings of Bourneville works, storing raw cocoa, daily arrival of new milk for milk chocolate, men’s recreation-ground, a walk round the plant, showing the airy work-rooms and open windows, the factory fire brigade at drill, open-air baths for boys and girls where they swim during working-hours, girls’ physical drill, preparing creams ready for covering with chocolate, covering chocolate creams and decorating chocolates. All this tended to favorably impress the millions who witnessed the film. As it also had educational qualities, it was offered to exhibitors free, over three hundred theaters taking advantage of the offer. It is usual to pay exhibitors a fee for this privilege, but when the advertising element does not unnecessarily obtrude, it can be put out on its own merits.