Verb. Sap.
The Strategy of Desire. By Ernest Dichter. (Boardman, 25s.)
DR. Dictirea, the inventor of motivation!' research, says that : —we're all more emotional than rational and communicators could use this for good if they knew what good was but meanwhile what's wrung with using this for selling goods which are, '1 you look at them rightly, an aspect of the full life and what's immoral about helping convince people of the beauty of a new car?
—in modern America the brand of merchan' dise purchased has almost become a substitute for nobility and a family tree;
—eighty-three per cent. of people questioned thought grapefruits more intellectual 1110 oranges: —motor-cars (a) are phallic symbols and so shouldn't have blunt bonnets (b) stand for flits' tresses or wives according to whether they're open or coupds;
—churches ask him what messages, what ser- mons they should preach in order to attract more people; —evaporated milk is associated in people's minds with mother's milk so they won't use it in coffee but will in mayonnaise; —older people and stout people have feelings of levitation when driving motor-cars; —if we want to buy a house in a particular area, it's no use asking the people who live there if they're happy because the unhappy ones will have moved out; —his inquiries into what people felt about death enabled him to tell the cemetery cotnpanY never to say they'd come to pick up the body but to ask where is Mr. Smith; —there is probably no class more uniform its manners and outlook on life than the English aristocracy; —the consumer must be taught that salvation lies in true technological advancements;
—the real defenders of a positive outlook on life, the real salesmen of prosperity, and there- fore of democracy, are the individuals who de- fend the right to buy a new car, a new home. 3 new radio; —we've got to give up Puritan concepts and bring hedonism to the surface again (but not the Samoans who must learn to work hard so as to be able to afford to buy things); --if you want a man to give to charity, it's 3 mistake to show him pictures of people in need because that worries him and makes him feel responsible; the right technique is 'to display 3 group of fine upstanding people in the com- munity, to convince the giver how wonderful be is because of his giving'; --everyone has a desire to kill or be killed, and the motor-car is a perfect way of sublimating such desires; —when Lady M, who gave a testimonial to $ product, was prosecuted for fraud, people liked her better. 'She had become one of them. A person passing a bad cheque was more likely to chew gum'; —the 'tension differential,' invented (dis' covered? named?) by Dr. Dichter, which IS people wanting, say, to be married or have a career or move up socially, can be utilised in selling because when a product promises to help a group achieve its aspirations, it has a good chance of success (Dr. D never seems to test whether products can or do fulfil the promises he makes on their behalf);
—most Western religions suffer from the defect that they try to make people rational. Zen in chtet
Buddhism appeals today because 'it talks about elljnYing each day, accepting life and oneself in ',is [sic] tangible reality rather than living in the
MARGHANITA LASKI
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