The Brussels Post, 1957-07-24, Page 6TA BLE TALKS
eictm Aml.tiews.
• 4,4%,..4,,de;"
S0114.4 sssss .
'The Men. Who. Make Up Our Minds
NM YORK While Vance
packard has gone home to work
On a new book, Madison Avenue
.,-the mother-ulcer of the
tien'a' advertising industry — is.
still trying to digest his first
book .without gagging.
"W VV: T HI S
This scene is duplicated all too often on a brig ht, 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 funmes 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 i n the driver's seat of either 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.
IAtt' illESS YOU'RE. MEttliW—No-.yeaf-ol
fed because chimp "Congo"'.1iaS.'hig. the
SUrrealiitie effort Pea. simply Shouldn't. pain
It's called "The Hidden Per-
suaders" and describes in minute
detail how we are being sold
one brand instead of another,
one candidate instead of another,
one point of view instead of an-
other.
Why, asks Packard (who knows
the answers), do Okra 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
philosophy, 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 ne 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."
Ready 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 se 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 ne 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-
BY THE TIME her supermarket
trip is done, MR will have sold
her 25 per cent more than she
needs—or wants.
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
well."
They charge very well, It costs
a medium-sized ad agency about
$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 ad men 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 ending 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."
Highway Eiewash
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 hislirst vacation tour
on the new highways. — Wash-
ington Post.
Homeowners.
Blasts The
Corner Lot
"For Sale — good corner lot,"
When your eyes light on such
an ad—then run. For "kit," 13
the correct word fOr a corner
location—a lot of noise, a lot.
Of car horns, a lot of people
meeting under yOur window; a
lot of everything but peace;
There is something strongly
attractive about a corner, Its
first appeal was to us, But we
found that dogs love them, and
children ride bicycles around
them in an ever-thickening
maze of automobile horn-blow-
ers. Other charms failing, it's a
delightful place to ping stones
against signboards, street lights
and sometimes windows.
A corner, especially with a
hill leading from it, seems to
be a desirable spot to show off
the noisy qualities of one's car.
People get out and bang car
doors at least twice—or so it
seems. And let's screech the
tires to let people know we're
on the move, writes Ruth How-
land in The Christian Science
Monitor.
In the lovely, peaceful woods
back of the house,• just at dusk
the bell-like tones of the thrush's
evening song is ringing clear
and cool—r-r-r—a trailer truck
races around the corner and ( up
the hill, with horn at full blast.
A lot—yes, a lot of cars on a
"country" road. Count them —
300 in one and one-half hours
at the low hour of traffic.
We chose the location. But
we couldn't have known that
our narrow, curving, country
road would soon become a run-
way between two main high-
ways, or the short cut from
Providence to the Cape.
We can't afford to move our
house to some more secluded
spot. But even if we could, the
odds are heavy that a new high-
way would soon be zooming
more cars around our lot. We
have known the peace and quiet
of country living on a corner
lot. But that was back before
the days of extraordinary home
building, superhighways, trailer
trucks, and the new form of
schooling for young people
known as freedom of self-ex-
pression. They are expressing
themselves all over our lot.
So, we know our next lot will
not be on a corner.
COSTLY COVERING — Labeled
the world's most expensive
child's coat, this, little number,
priced at ..$3,500, is entirely
hand-made from the finest
Vicuna cloth. Vicuna, one of
rarest and most valuable ma-
terials in the world, is worth
nearly $200 a yard. The de-
tachable collar and zip-in lin-
ing are of Canadian Emba
mink.
How Women
Work Fingers
A recognized English group,
Mass-Observation, which does
just that, ventures where many
have feared to tread, It has
asked 1,400 housewives to 12
London boroughs just how Much
they do, in fact, "work their
fingers to the bone, day in and
day out."
The investigation showed that
about a quarter of the house-
wife's day is spent preparing,
eating arid clearing away meals.
Housework takes about two and
a half hours ore days her than
Saturday and Sunday arid about
half that time on those weekend
days. moth shopping and laun-
dry take on an average of any-
thing from 36 minutes to one
hour arid 42 minutes a day,
`Younger Worriert take longer
over their shopping than do the
experienced housewives in older
age groups. Two' wives out Of
five watch day time TV pre,
grams'but only 17 per dent con.
fessed to taking a mid-Mornirig
break for' tea. ;
Nowhere in the report does
the Word gossip appear. Surely
women are little bit Mote
Sociable than Mess-Observation
presents?
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 cblour-
ful vegetables. It should. be un-
molded on crisp lettuce and serv-
ed with mayonaise.
VEGETABLE SALAD
1 package lemon-flavored
gelatin
1 cup boiling water
11/2 tablespoons vinegar
Cold water
1 teaspoons salt
Dash pepper
1/4 teaspoon paprika
Finch Cayenne
:1 cup shredded raw cabbage
2 tblsp. grated onion
3/4 cup chopped raw spinach
3/4 cup grated raw carrot
Cottage cheese
Dissolve gelatin in boiling
water. Place vinegar in 1 cup
measure and add enough cold
water to make % cup. Add this
to dissolved gelatin and stir in
seasonings. Chill until syrupy.
To 1/2 of this 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 medleys Serve with
whipped cream to which you
have added a small amount of
mayonnaise. This amount serves
6.
MOLDED FRUIT MEDLEY
1 envelope unflavored
cup p sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
11/2 cups very hot water
1/2 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.
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.
gROCOLArigggiVERMThit
PIE'
2 pints peppermint ice Crean'
3/4 cup semisweet chikolate
pieces
2 teaspoons butter
1 cup grapefittit flakes
VI: cup semisweet chocolate
pieces`'
1 to 2 thblespoons warm
Water
Line a '9-inch pie Pan With
aluminum foil, pressing foil
around edges of pan: Melt to-
: gall& butter arid 34 cup theca.,
late pieces in titan. 'saucepan
Over low:, heat, stirring until
smboth. Add grapentit flakes and
Mix well, With the back Of a
spoon, 'presS Mixture loll=
s
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 1/4 cup chocolate pieces in
the warm water. Drizzle 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 in pan
10 minutes after taking from
oven, then loosen edges and
sides with spatula. Put platter
over pan; use both hands to turn
loaf onto platter.
HOT CHICKEN AND
RICE LOAF
1 stewing, chicken (4 pounds
ready-to-cook weight)
2 teaspoons salt
11/2 cups raw rice, cooked
1 teaspoon salt
'/'cup chopped pimiento
. .1 teaspoon paprika
4 eggs, beaten
1/2 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 Vs- 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.
Happy Motoriig
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
t his area, with blankets and pit-
lows, providing both a play area
and a comfortable place to sleep.
A space-saving is to bang a
plastic shot' 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 inclpde
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-
cess of cooking lessons via TV.
Viewer; receive 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.
Follow Basic Rules
For Safe Vacation
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.
EEMAIL MAN — learning her new, duties down to the last letter,
would-be postman, not yet in uniform, trundles 'her "trolley''
le-to-house in The Hague, Holland; udder the Watchful
Mailtriari. Owing to a Shortage of male per.
pastel authorities are' recruiting women for the'
The postvverrien Will lie issued "trolleys" to
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 v./aging 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.
d ,Beitish lass Petd (outset kinbley appears miff
altitpot, colors twee the young. lady*
f the London too.• io•