We wanted to respond to your Dec. 12 Viewpoint, “APC's quiet demise leaves behind ad legacy.” In this piece, Don Loepp states that plastics processors will miss APC's ads. There are few of us involved with chemistry and the myriad of chemistry-based industries, including plastics, who would deny the success of the plastics advertising program. The campaign lifted a beleaguered industry during a time when product bans loomed and public animus gave a good material a bad name.
But pressures on the products of chemistry have changed almost as much as the industry itself in the years since the plastics advertising first hit the air. The trade association and its programs have changed, too, though not before taking stock of the critical elements of success achieved by our predecessors, including the ad campaign. Based on feedback from our member companies and the public (queried through an incredible amount of research), we are confident that the equity of the plastics brand is retained in our current campaign. We look forward to building on that legacy to promote a better appreciation of all chemistry-based industries, including plastics.
Change may be inevitable, but it does not have to be regrettable. We hope your readers share our aspirations for a better name for all products of chemistry.
We invite Plastics News readers to look for our new advertisements while watching some of their favorite television programs, reading popular magazines and newspapers or driving on various highways. We think that they will see many familiar images, and will enjoy the new ads as much as some of the former campaigns that have celebrated plastics in recent years.
Jack N. Gerard
President and CEO
American Chemistry Council
Arlington, Va.
