68 T H E M I N D O F TH E BUY E R
s ociety d ow age r who se c orset s c ont ribu te so
vi ta l ly t owa rd th e regality o f h er fi gure a s sh e
swe ep s from h e r R oll s-Royce int o th e en tranc e
of Sh e rry ’s. ”
Aft e r ci ting oth e r a dap ta tions o f c opy to
m e dium th i s w rite r c oncl udes : “ We a re no w
so th oroughly c onvinc ed of th e n ec essity o f
li nkin g up c opy wi th th e e di t ori al ton e o f th e
ma gazine th a t i t i s o ne o f o ur st ronge st adver
tising p olicie s. ”
If such p rofi tabl e a daptati ons c a n b e ef
fected with out. th e use o f sci en tific me asure
m en ts, surely a ft er w e h ave refine d a tech
niqu e simila r to th a t sugge sted i n thi s ch ap te r,
w e sh all b e abl e to m ak e muc h mo re efiective
a dapt a tions o f sal e s app eal s t o th e p ublic s
we a re trying to reach.
F ashion a pheno menon o f the collectivemind. On e ch a rac t eristic o f group minds i s
th e ph en omen on which we c all fa shion. I t
may b e d efine d a s “ a se ri e s of recurring
ch a nge s i n th e ch oice s of a group of p eopl e
which , th ough th ey m ay b e acc omp anie d by
u tili ty, a re no t de te rmine d by i t.” Fashi on
i s o ne o f th e m ost imp orta n t p sychi cal fa c to rs
afi ecting mo de rn selling. Eve ry o ne rec og
nizes i t s fo rc e, bu t few l ay d own any p rin