Csaplár Ferenc szerk.: Lajos Kassák / The Advertisement and Modern Typography (1999)

Comments on the Promotional Campaign of Hungarian Week

were initiated by great industrial nations, but not only to sell a greater than usual quantity of domestically produced goods to domestic consumers but also to maintain the quality of their own products in the face of competing nations' goods, and, in doing so, draw public attention to it and raise consumer confidence. The slogan of British Week was "British goods are better than foreign ones", meaning they are more economical and sensible to buy. In Hungary they said: "Buy domestically produced goods because we have a lot of people unemployed, and if you don't support us, our poor industry will become even poorer." The consumer in every nation is first and foremost a consumer, and only secondarily a British, German or Hungarian patriot. So when a tradesman appeals to the patriotism of the buying public instead of offering them better and cheaper goods or at least ones similar to those they can buy elsewhere, he is most certainly being inept. Surely if someone bought 1 ounce of x out of patriotism during Hungarian Week, he also bought a pound of British or German y. Because he too noticed that the advertising during Hungarian Week did not mean the beginnings of the organisation of Hungarian production and consumption. The whole event did not signify anything more for him than the poor advertising of a weekly sale. If he did buy something, he was surely convinced that with his deed he was bringing a sacrifice to the altar of the fatherland. REKLÁMÉLET, NOVEMBER 1928, PP. 3-5. Shop display at the Mentor bookshop at No. 17 Andrássy út in Budapest with copies of Tisztaság könyve (The Book of Purity) by Lajos Kassák and advertising materials for the book designed by Kassák, June 1926 The shop diplay was designed by Béla Kádár Photograph by Árpád Szélpál 16