People hate salesmen almost as much as they hate lawyers. They imagine a profession of liars, willing to say and promise anything to get an order placed and a check written. To many, working in sales and marketing is only slightly more respectable than looting the bodies of car accident victims.

Unfortunately, their hatred is not entirely unjustified. There isn't an email user alive who isn't tired beyond belief of being sold pornography, sexual aids and weight loss formulas through spam email. The recent flood of signees to the federal "Do Not Call" list gave us all a pretty good picture of public feelings towards some telemarketing practices. Few people haven't been touched in some way by multi-level marketing scams. We're surrounded by countless examples of unethical salespeople selling garbage as roses, giving us all a bad name.

As marketing professionals, we sell dreams. That's what we do. We invent the perfect kitchenware, the perfect clothes, the perfect solutions to all the modern problems; we create imaginary products that live in hearts and minds, and then claim them as reality. If the dreams are dramatic and convincing enough, people buy things - regardless of whether or not they were actually worth buying.

And for some salespeople, that's enough. Integrity becomes a liability to the sale, and the money is in the bank. But the bigger picture is lost.

When our invented dreams reflect a true recognition of greatness in our product, they do more than get the check - they sell the dream as well. That's when advertising evolves beyond the traveling snake-oil show and becomes a noble and respectable undertaking, serving to remind both producer and consumer that quality and value are more than cheap toys to attract the weak-minded: they are meaningful realities within human grasp. We sell a dream, and then prove the dream true. We create a better world.

Advertising then becomes a medium of values, not only raising customer expectations and fortifying markets but also inspiring the next round of dreams. And marketing professionals become something nobler in the public eye than pickpockets and hustlers. They become communicators, facilitators and guides.

They become respected.