(^160) T HE M IN D O F THE B UY E R
way of illu stra tion, a nalyze a w ell -kn own
selling-ph ra se which m ay l ead t h e min d far
a fiel d from th e direc tion desired by th e sell er :
“ E ve n tually, why no t no w ?”
Th e a dverb “ even tually” i mplie s a ve rb a nd
subj e c t ; in all likeliho od : “ Yo u will use Gol d
M edal Fl o ur. ” This p a rt of the ph ra se is no t
wh olly rep reh en sibl e ; ye t it h a s o ne faul ty
i mplica tion, na mely, th a t th e b uye r is p rob
ably going to del ay th e ac t of p urcha se. It is
a s i f on e sai d to th e h o usewi fe : “ I kn ow you
a re u sing som e o th e r flo ur no w. K eep on
using i t ; aft e r trial yo u will ch ange to anoth e r
b ra n d ; afte r i t to anothe r. E vent ually, how
eve r ( a ft e r p e rh ap s t wen ty ye a rs ) , yo u will
c om e to o urs. ” Up on such a nalysis, which is
surely no t fa r-fe tc h e d, th e fi rs t p art of the
sl ogan i s seen to c onta in im plica tion s th at
were s urely neve r i nte nde d by th e sell e r, con
fi rmin g th e h o usewife in h e r p resen t use of
a noth e r fl ou r.
Th e second pa r t of th e sl oga n i s op e n to
still m ore se rio us obj ec ti on. If we foll ow
th e sub te rra ne an c onversatio n between seller
a n d b uye r, w e sh all fin d th a t th e sell e r says
by i mplica ti on : “ I know yo u are no t going
to b uy now. ” Th e b uye r replies, “ No! I a m
no t. ” Th e selle r asks, “ Why n ot ?” What
nextflipdebug5
(nextflipdebug5)
#1