Some earnest men in the advertising business are concerned about the derogatory image of their profession that has been created in the public mind and quietly are running it up on the flagpole to see who salutes.

As they see it, the constant references to the Madison Avenue boys as polite villains, enforcing conformity on people through fear and repetition has reached an alarming point.

They feel that even greater damage can be done potentially by the rash of current books depicting advertising and public relations men as ruthless, double-crossing, three Martini boys who will stop at nothing to sell a bill of goods.

Note: This column originally appeared in the L.A. Mirror in 1959 and was republished on latimes.com in 2009. It is available via Archive.org.