2017 - The L. L. Bean Catalog has become an advertising curiosity but, un- fortunately, not an advertising standard. Mr. Bean, whose personality and philosophy trickles onto every page, has an unusual attitude about both his hunting and fishing products and the manner in which he goes about selling them. An elderly gentleman, who has been hunting since he was 16 years old, he has a passionate concern for quality. There is hardly a problem an outdoorsman faces that Mr. Bean hasn't run into at one time or an- other. His customers are hunters and fishermen who will, soon after purchasing their favorite items from the catalog, take to the woods and streams to test for themselves Mr. Bean's products.
When one goes into the Maine wilds, "modern styling," "decorator colors," and other favorite cliches of the modern advertising man, quickly pale if the knife doesn't cut or the compass doesn't point north.
Planned obsolescence is not part of the Bean philosophy. At the top of page 33, he sternly warns: "We wish to call your attention to the fact that throwing away a pair of used Maine Hunting Shoes is about the same as throwing away a five dollar bill." He calls upon his customers to send in their old shoes so that they may be rebuilt. It is hard to imagine General Motors making similar demands upon the owners of last year's model. Mr. Bean does not pamper his clients. In the case of the old Maine Hunting Shoes, for example, he di- rects them to clean the shoes and re- move laces and innersoles before mail- ing. The highly successful Bean enter- prise operates out of a salesroom and factory in Freeport, Me, The sales- room is open 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. Because of the intrenched position of Bean in Maine tradition, his firm has even survived state blue laws that force lesser establishments to close on Sunday. While success often brings new showrooms opened with hoopla and cut ribbons, Mr. Bean has been con- tent to make improvements on his Freeport offices. Once customers walked through the factory up several flights of stairs before they got a look at any finished products. Today the factory has been by-passed, although a healthy climb is still required before the salesroom is reached.
The main medium through which the fame of Bean is spread is the free catalog, which comes out in several editions during the year. The catalog differs from compan- ion publications in this country. in a number of respects. It is not Just a sales brochure, but a careful blending of advertising, useful instructions, Bean autobiography and philosophy. The language is unaffected and direct. Mr. Bean is one of a rare breed: an
advertising man who doesn't feel that he can improve the English langue each day by inventing new words or giving new meanings to old words. This is not to say that Mr. Bean is unenthusiastic about his products. He is proud of them and expresses this pleasure in a succinct, natural fashion. Speaking of his "Tomahawk Tool," Bean writes: "A real heavy duty tool that will do a lot of work." The trials of a store operator are frankly revealed: "After looking over dczens of compasses we picked the hunter case as being the most practical style but it had the same fault of all high grade compasses. The dial was all cluttered up with figures, lines and ornaments. We therefore had a verv piain dial made to our own idea as shown . " The catalog is sensitive to many of the little problems that plague those who hunt and fish. One folding chair advertised has, the catalog points out, cross bar legs to prevent it from sink- ing into soft sand. A spinning bug lure has its wings close to the body so the fish won't snap at the wings and miss the hook. A duffle bag has a zipper on the side because "with most duffle bags it is necessary to dump all the contents to find a pair of stockings or a box of shells."
The catalog encourages thrift, The low price of Bean's Leather Case is possible, we are told, "by using pieces of leather not large enough fc: our Maine Hunting Shoe." There is useful advice as well: "To get the full life from any fish line it should be dried after use." "When strike comes lift butt of rod straight up." "Use a gut hook with common angle worms and let out 25 to 50 yards of line. If this doesn't get you down deep enough use larger spinner or put on sinker."
We believe this catalog should not only be in every hunter's bookshelf, but be required reading in every freshman English class and every office on Madison Avenue.
