S E L L I N G T O C O L LE C T I VE B UY E R 5 9
th e Y M onthly by “ l ow-b rows th a t o ne
newsp ap e r c ontrol s. th e “ l abor” vo te ; a noth e r,
th e “ we t” el em ent. If th ese differenc e s exi st
surely w e o ugh t to b e abl e to m ea sure th em.
True, th e ta sk will be diffic ul t ; fo r p sych ical
things a re obsc ure a nd el usive. F urth erm ore,
th e sta tus of p sych ol ogy as a n a c c ura te scienc e
i s so rece ntly establish e d t h a t w e do n o t ye t
h ave psych ol ogi cal “ ya rd-sticks” wi th which
to mea sure all kind s of m ental things.
In th e effort to sec u re such m e asureme nts
th e a uth o r un dertook a n i nvestigation of
seve ral peri odical s, a n d disc ove re d a tech niqu e
w hich reveal ed di stinc t p sych ol ogical diffe r
ences an d permi tte d th ei r m a th em atical p re
senta tio n. Th ough th es e differe nc e s a re no t
o f a n at u re to be m arkedly significan t fo r a d
vertising a n d sel ling, th ey are n eve rth el ess
striking e nough to encoura ge us t o h op e th at
w e m ay ultima tely devel op m e th od s th a t will
b e pra ctically applicabl e to th e two -fol d p rob
l em which th e a dvertise r fa ce s : wh a t me dium
to use , an d h ow a dap t c opy t o e ach one?
By way of p reliminary app roa ch th e follow
ing simpl e p roce dure wa s pla nned an d exe
cuted : Two pe ri odical s w ere ch ose n which
a re commonly all ege d to serv e diffe re n t pub o
lies —th e Chi ca go E vening P o st a n d th e
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