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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Seaforth News, 1957-08-01, Page 2The Men Who Make Up Our Minds NEW YORK -While Vance leackard has gone home to work on a new book, .Madison Avenue —the., mother -ulcer , of .the na- tion's advertising industry — as still trying to digest his first book without gagging.' ht's called "The Hidden Per- suaders" and describes in minute detail how we are being sold one brand instead of another, one candidate instead o£ another, one point of view instead of an - ether. Why, asks Phckard (who knows the answers), do cars keep get- ting longer and longer? Why are men's clothes becoming fem- inized? How do supermarkets sell 25 per cent more than the shopper needs? On and on the questions roll. And the answer, according to this study, is because merchandisers, ad men, publicists are applying the findings of Motivational Re- search. MR is psychology applied to selling. And Motivational Re- searchers are depth men whose pli losophy, according to one of their trade journals, says: "In very few instances do people really know what they want, even when they say they do." For the most part, behind our specific purchases and points of view .are unconscious and irra- tional motivating factors. For example, Packard cites "the drive to conformity, the need for oral stimulation, yearning for security." Once these vulnerable points are isolated, he explains, the psy- chological hooks are baited and placed in the merchandising sea for the unwary consumer who has no way to defend himself. Under chapter headings like: Marketing Eight Hidden Needs; The Built -In Sexual Overtone; Babes In Consumerland; The Packaged Soul; etc., Packard points to product after product and campaign after campaign which MR has successfully sold to us. "They're not selling products much anymore," Packard said about his findings. "Today, one brand is often about the same as another. So the merchandisers have to sell us as people. It's inhuman and dangerous." Beady confirmation of his con- clusion is available to most working newsmen in the morn- ing mail. A publicity release by a cigar firm, for example, pro- claims that it has hired a good- looking woman to "glamorize" cigars so that women will buy them and younger men will smoke them.% And an item from Blank Art Studios who supply much of the art you see in ads explains that they "have been giving a lot more emphasis to the people rather than the product in the ad." Even qualified market report- ers find themselves baffled by what people say about a product before they buy it. Here's a news report on a new automobile style; "You may not like the looks of this car but the public is going for it—big!" In both subtle and obvious ways, Packard said, we're being exploited in our unconscious: our hopes, fears, dreams — places where we have no defense. In order to get at these feel- ings, Packard found, MR people have called on college professors of psychology and sociology to devise depth questionnaires and tests that will by-pass conscious guards. "It's getting to the place," ac- cording to Kenneth Schwartz, an expert market reporter, "where if you want to interview a col- lege professor, you have to look for him at supermarket open- ings" But one psychology professor at an eastern college who has been ignored by MR firms said wistfully: "Of course I'd be glad to consult with these researchers. I understand they pay very welly They charge very well. It costs. a medium-sized ad agency about 4$1,500 for a day -and -a -half, con- sultation. And with each new MR success, the fee climbs. About the only thing, Packard said, that can pull the frightening structure .down is awareness by the consumer of what the mer- chandisers are doing to him with MR. And admen are frankly wor- ried that "The Hidden Persuad- ers" will do just that. The book is selling at the rate of 1,000 per week and as one Madison Avenue man said, "How can you tell who's erading it? If it's just us ad men, it's okay. But what if it's a consumer?" Packard sadly admitted his own fear that the middle ma- jority—the market which MR manipulates — does not read books like this. "About the best I can hope for," he said, "is that the MR people and the advertising men will read it and discover a sense of morality and responsibility toward the unaware consumers who can't defend themselves against the exploitation of their unconscious." BY THE TIME her supermarket trip is done, MR will have sold her 25 per cent more than she needs—or wants. Highway Eyewash A pat argument used by mem- bers of Congress Opposed to bill- board controls is that only esthetes are concerned about turning the new 41,000 miles Of Federal highway into a garish jungle of billboards and neon - lit hot dog eateries. Yet among the chief opponents of unregu- lated billboards are highway en- gineers — hardy known as an arty -arty group — who rightly point to certain safety hazards posed by confusing signs on a speedway. We further suspect that many a motorist whose closest approach to the fine arts is watching a wrestling match will take loud offense if he sees more soapflake placards than sunsets on his first vacation tour on the new highways. — Wash- ington Post. FEMAIL MAN Learning her new duties down to the last letter, this would-be postman, not yet in uniform, trundles her "trolley" From house-to-house in The Hague, Holland, under the watchful eye of, a regular mailman. Owing to o shortage of male per- sonnel, Dutch postal authorities are recruiting women for the letter -lugging job. The postwomen will be issued "trolleys" to snake their job easier. MEMORIZE THIS PICTURE!— This scene is duplicated all too often on a bright, pleasant Sunday afternoon. Many of the ele- ments of highway tragedy are here. The smashed cars - the news photographers — curious passersby. You can smell, almost the funnies of dripping gasoline and hot engine oil. You can hear (almost) the keening of ambulance sirens. But this is no accident. It is a carefully staged wreck, made to occur on a test track at the UCLA engineering laboratory to study the effects of head-on collision. Place yourself mentally in the driver's seat ofeither car, for a moment, before you take a chance on the highway. Each of these vehicles was going "only" 55 miles an hour when they hit. Follow Basic Rules •,; TA, BLE TALKS I For Safe Vacation eiaTte Andbews If you are doing any warm- weather entertaining, gelatin fOr salad molds, crumb crusts for refrigerator pies, or some other dessert that can be made and refrigerated 24 hours or so be- fore serving are a real help. Or if you don't want to cook at the last moment, a chicken loaf be be baking in your oven for the last hour before the party and whisked Onto the table hot at the last minute. * * Vegetables with cottage cheese make an easy, go - with - steak salad. This one uses four colour- ful vegetables. It should be un- molded on crisp lettuce and serv- ed. with mayonaise. VEGETABLE SALAD 1 package lemon -flavored gelatin I cup boiling water 13/ tablespoons vinegar Cold water • 134 teaspoons salt Dash pepper 34 teaspoon paprika Pinch Cayenne - 1 cup shredded raw cabbage 2 tblsp. grated onion % cup chopped raw spinach s/ cup grated raw carrot Cottage cheese Dissolve gelatin in boiling water. Place vinegar in 1 cup measure and add enough cold water to make 3/4 cup. Add this to dissolved gelatin and stir in seasonings. Chill until syrupy. To th of thio mixture add onion and cabbage. Pour into 1 -quart ring mold and chill until set. Add spinach and carrot to re- mainder of gelatin; pour over set mixture. Chill until firm. Unmold on lettuce; fill center with cottage cheese. Serves 6. * If you would like to serve fruit as your salad, try this molded fruit medley. Serve with whipped cream to which you have added a small amount of mayonnaise. This amount serves 6. MOLDED FRUIT MEDLEY 1 envelope unflavored gelatin 34 cup sugar r4 teaspoon salt 134 cups very hot waler 34 cup lemon or lime juice 2 cups mixed cut-up fresh, canned or frozen fruit Mix together gelatin, sugar, and salt. Add very hot water and stir until gelatin is thor- oughly dissolved. Stir In lemon juice. Chill until mixture is con- sistency of unbeaten egg white. Fold in fruit. Turn into 3 -cup mold or individual molds, Chill until firm. Unmold on crisp let- tuce leaves. * ** Have you every tried making a chocolate-grapenut crust for an ice cream pie? Use peppermint ice cream to fill this crust and put the whole thing in your freezer until ready to serve. This is a 9 -inch pie, CROCOLATE PEPPERMINT PIE 2 pints peppermint ice cream V.4 cup semisweet chocolate pieces 2 teaspoons butter 1 cup grapefruit flakes 34 cup semisweet chocolate pieces 1 to 2 tablespoons warm water Line a 9 -inch pie pan with aluminum foil, pressing foil around edges of pan. Melt to- gether butter and 9/4 cup choco- late pieces in ' small saucepan over low . heat, stirring until smooth. Add grapenut flakes and mix well. With , the back of a spoon, press mixture into foil - lined pie pan. Chill until choco- late shell is firm. Lift foil from pan and peel from chocolate shell. Place shell in pie pan and spoon slightly softened pepper- mint ice cream into shell. Melt the 1 cup chocolate pieces in the warm water, Driz$le choco- late over ice cream. With a spat- ula or fork, mark through choc- olate topping to make a marble- ized effect. Cover with freezer wrapping. Freeze until ready to serve. * * * Here's a chicken and rice loaf recipe you'll like. It bakes at 350° F. for I hour. Use a 2 -quart ring mold, a large bread -loaf pan or any special loaf pan you like. Brush inside of pan with melted fat before pouring mixture into pan. Allow loaf to stay ip pan 10 minutes after taking from oven, then loosen edges and sides with spatula. Put platter Over pan; use both hands to turn Ioaf onto platter. HOT CHICKEN AND RICE LOAD 1 stewing chicken (4 pounds ready -to -cook weight) 2 teaspoons salt 1 cups raw rice, cooked 1 teaspoon salt 3 cup chopped pimiento 1 teaspoon paprika 4 eggs, beaten 3 cup chicken fat, skimmed from broth 2 cups chicken broth 1 cup milk Cook chicken with 2 teaspoons salt the day before you want to make the loaf. Pour broth in covered container. Cool quickly. Keep in refrigerator. Remove chicken meat from bones and cut into 1- to 1 -inch cubes. Keep in refrigerator. The morning of the party, use spoon to remove fat from broth. There should be a quart of broth. If there is more, boil down to 1 quart. If there is less, add water to make a quart. Heat to blend. Reserve 2 cups for sauce. Combine the chicken, 4 cups cooked rice, and all other in- gredients as listed. Stir to blend well. Pack mixture into greased pan. Bake at 350° F. for 1 hour. Serves 8-10. Season and thicken 2 cups chicken broth and serve as sauce for loaf. To ensure a healthy, happy holiday it pays to follow a few basic rules: 1. Avoid deep water and canoes if you are a non -swimmer. 2. Take the sun in easy doses sunburn is a real burn. 3. Be sure your summer water supply is pure and your va- cation milk supply is pasteur- ized . . if not, pasteurize it yourself. 4. Avoid over-exertion, particu- larly if you are unaccustomed to strenuous exercise, When a man is pushing 60, that's exercise enough. Happy Motoring With Small Fry. If. ' you're taking. very young children on a .motor trip, load, suitcases on the floor of the back seat until they are level with the seat. Place a mattress across this area, with' blankets and pil- lows, providing both a play' area and a comfortable place to sleep. A space -saving is to hang a plastic shore wardrobe over the back of the car's front seat so that compartments face the rear, This holds toys and necessary in- cidentals .; . . one being a paper bag for litter. Items in the glove compart- ment of the car should include sun glasses for tired little eyes, sunburn preventative, a first aid kit and a damp washcloth and soap in a plastic bag, TV Art Lessons For .Housewives The French TV network has launched a program to teach housewives with • time on their hands, how to paint pictures. The idea stemmed from earlier suc- eess of cooking lessons via TV. Viewer, receiCe three after noon classes a week. Georges Labaille, a well - known art teacher, is in charge but he Of- ten presents guest stars from the Paris art world, to offer words of encouragement • to the aspiring painters in their kitchen aprons. It is estimated that 20 per cent of the persons watching the pro- grams have their easels in front of them and are painting right along with the teacher. Cool Drinks Win Serve simple cool drinks and you'll be a winner! Grape juice is a good old standby. Just com- bine one medium bottle of juice with enough sugar syrup to sweeten. Add half cupful of lemon juice and chill. Just be- fore serving add one quart of ginger ale and serve six satis- fied customers. VIRUS VICTIMS. — These residents of Delhi, India, some of the 35,000 in the Delhi area stricken with Oriental influenza, crowd into a dispensary for treatment, First detected in north China in January, the virus has raged through the entire Far East. With cases showing up in European cities and among travelers returning to America, world health officials fear fur- ther spread and are waging an all-out war against it. Known as Mutant A—it changes its nature—the flu has resisted modern miracle durgs. Few deaths have been reported, though millions have been stricken. THAT'S MY MESS YOWRE MESSIN'-Two-year-old British lass Peta Louise'Skingley appears mif- fed because chimp"Congo" has his fist in the 'paintpot, spilling colors over the young lady's surrealistic effort. Pees simply shouldn't paint at the London zoo. "