John Wanamaker said: "Half the money I spend on advertising is wasted; the trouble is I don't know which half"
Unsourced Confidence: medium
No primary data found; the trail ends in a roundup, a disowned quote or a circular citation.
- Commonly cited as
- "Half my advertising is wasted, I just don't know which half" — John Wanamaker
- True origin
- Quote Investigator — One-Half the Money I Spend for Advertising Is Wasted (Apr. 11, 2022; updated Mar. 17, 2025)
- Type
- Stat check: A widely repeated statistic traced back to its origin.
- Year
- 1919 (earliest attribution)
- Data as of
- Research updated Mar. 17, 2025
- Last checked
- What the source says
QI has been unable to find a direct citation to a written or spoken instance from Wannamaker; hence, this ascription remains uncertain. Nevertheless, Wannamaker is currently the leading candidate.
- Method & sample
- Quotation research: the earliest full attribution is a 1919 speech by Rev. Roy L. Smith; partial versions appear from 1890.
- Drift between quote and source
- Attribution: secondhand (1919); also credited to Lord Leverhulme, Wrigley and others
- Interest
- Quote Investigator is an independent quotation-research site run by Garson O'Toole; no commercial interest in the quote.
Safe rephrasing
The line is usually credited to John Wanamaker, but the earliest attribution is secondhand (a 1919 speech) and no direct record from him has been found; say 'often attributed to Wanamaker'.
Sources we opened
Machine-readable: /api/claims/wanamaker-half-my-advertising-is-wasted.json · Last checked 2026-10-16