(FORTUNE Magazine) – In reaction against what threatens to become a never-ending pitch from advertisers, yuppies seem to be tiring of all the adulation, and some marketers seeking all those upwardly mobile dollars are trying a subtler approach. The new pitch avoids using the term Garry Trudeau's comic-strip character Michael Doonesbury refers to as ''the Y-word'' and portrays its targets as professionals wrestling as much with higher values as higher salaries. An ad for Saab asks: ''Does popular acceptance require abandoning the very principles that got you where you are?'' And how about this one? ''American Express believes there should be more to being active in the community than just taking aerobics.'' But the subtle sell is hardly universal. Michelob beer still declares, ''You're on your way, moving up.'' The prize for the most elaborate and unapologetic pitch to the young and ambitious could go to Esquire magazine, which introduced a line of videotapes dubbed Esquire Success that promise to teach young male executives how to eat well, dress right, choose wine, and be a success in six easy lessons. The tapes, which retail for $29.95 and run for about one hour each, go on the market in mid-September. They feature Jeff Campbell, chief executive of Burger King, and Richard Armiger, a vice president of Citicorp, with career advice, as well as chefs and enophiles with pearls of wisdom for people on the fast track. Some advertisers say that the yuppies may be distracting marketers from greener pastures. ''Yuppies have received $50 million worth of press coverage, way out of proportion to their influence,'' says Bert Metter, vice chairman of J. Walter Thompson USA, an advertising firm. A recent study by JWT figured that the you-know-what market was composed of 3.1 million people, with a total annual income of $133 billion. A far larger group in the same age range is composed of 11.8 million ''would-be yuppies,'' including teachers and social workers, whose total income is $173 billion. They may not be ready to buy vacation homes, Metter says, but they are the types who buy running shoes and Haagen-Dazs ice cream.