E. St. Elmo Lewis

E. St. Elmo Lewis (1872-1948) was an American advertising advocate -- he wrote and spoke prolifically about the potential of advertising to educate the public. He was the co-founder/first president of the Association of National Advertisers. Lewis was inducted into the Advertising Hall of Fame posthumously, in 1951.

Lewis authored a number of books including "Financial Advertising" and "Getting the Most Out of Business". In 1911, he gave a speech before the American Bankers Association, titled "The Savings Idea and the People," advocating that savings bankers adopt a policy of "aggressive conservation," wherein they recognize that in order to make savings a national trait, they must acknowledge that "they are here as an economic necessity, representing the principle of the conservation of human effort, and that in order to conserve they have a duty for which they must fight, educate, plead and teach the people..."