USP or non USP?

I never quite bought into the fact that each ad should have a clear USP (Unique Selling Proposition). To me, it's always sounded like "the consumer is a bit dumb. he can only understand one simple message at a time. if you put two messages it will be too much".

But now I found that Rosser Reeves himself (the inventor of USP) puts it in a more agreeable way (quoting from branding strategy insider):

In his book, Reality in Advertising, he laments that the popularity of the USP does not reflect a wide-spread understanding of the term. He defines the USP in three parts:

* Each advertisement must make a proposition to the consumer. Not just words, not just product puffery, not just show-window advertising. Each advertisement must say to each reader: ‘Buy this product and you will get this specific benefit.
* The proposition must be one that the competition either cannot, or does not, offer. It must be unique -- either a uniqueness of the brand or a claim not otherwise made in that particular field of advertising.
* The proposition must be so strong that it can move the mass millions, i.e., pull over new customers to your product.

Reeves recommended thinking of the USP as something the consumer takes from the ad, rather than as something the copywriter puts into the ad.

More agreeable, still ... a bit too simple.