(^162) TH E M IN D O F TH E B UY E R
f ountai n cl erk, “ Give m e a gla ss of c oke.
Th e man ufa ct urers did no t like thi s ; for i t
pe rmi t ted th e cl erk to substit ut e som e imita
tio n o f Co c a C ol a whi ch mi gh t c all i tsel f
c oke. ” F u rth erm ore th e abb revia tion i s
reminisc en t of a n un desi rabl e drug h abi t.
How b reak th e p ublic of th e h abi t of using th e
obnoxiou s appel a tion? To a dvertise, “ D on’t
say c oke, ” w oul d be to give a n ega tive sug
gestion , e nt ailing all th e un de si rabl e couse
q uences m ention e d ab ove, nam ely, by rep eti
tion o f th e n am e “ c oke” th e p eopl e who use d
i t w oul d b e t emp ted to use i t all th e m ore ;
some wh o mi gh t neve r h ave use d i t migh t ge t
th e h abit ; an d wors e, th e real i de a conveye d
woul d b e “ S ay Coke, ” despit e th e n ega tion.
As a sol uti on to thi s q uandry, th e m an u
fa cturers a dop te d th e ph ra se, “ A sk fo r Coc a
Col a by it s full nam e. ” Thi s sugge stion is
fre e from obj ec tions. I t c onveys th e desire d
m ea ning ; i t is p ositive ; and if p eopl e foll ow
i t th ey will be doi ng wha t th e c omp any de
si re s. Thi s ill ust ra tion sh ows th a t no m at te r
h ow st rong th e t emp ta tion to use nega tive
sugges tion, i f th e seller studies his si tuation
c a re fully a nd take s suffici en t th o ugh t, h e will
b e abl e to avoi d th e enervatin g and misl ea d
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