Hal's TV-ad essay: more well than wisely
It did what all ads are supposed to do: create an anxiety relievable by purchase. It just did it way more well than wisely, given the vulnerable psyche of an increasingly hygiene-conscious U.S.A. in those times.
Context
Cynicism perfected, named in Hal's flat clinical register. Advertising's whole function is defined without heat — engineer an anxiety that only the product can relieve — and the NoCoat "Überad" is that cynicism executed past the point of viability: manipulation so expert it awakens the manipulated, the ad so potent it destroys the medium that carries it. What makes this the register point and not just media history is Hal's tone: he measures the craft admiringly, "more well than wisely," as a connoisseur of engineered feeling, with no moralizing seam. The scene's earnestness is aimed at manipulation itself — sincerity of analysis in the service of describing the perfected insincerity of the ad.