1 9 2 T H E M IN D O F TH E B UYE R
tion s o f vera ci ty. Fo r c e rtainly no t eve ry
b ra nd o f b rea kfa st food, dysp ep sia ta bl et s,
a ut omobil e tire s a n d flo ur ca n b e t h e be st.
If th e sup erla tive b e a d opte d a s a fai rly
sa ti sfac to ry c ri teri on o f truth ful n ess, o r
ra the r untruthful ness, o ur t ask of m ea sure
m en t is quit e simpl e, re quiring u s m erely to
c ount th e adve rt isement s c on ta ining superl a
tives a nd c omp are the n umbe r wi th th e to tal
n umb e r of a dvertisem ent s a ppea ring. Thi s
th e a u th or did, usi ng th e fil e s o f th re e
m edi ums c ove rin g th e p eri o d^1900 - (^1919) : The
I ndianap olis N ews, a typical new spape r ; The
Co smo p o litan, a typical ge ne ral m a gazin e ;
a n d H o us e B ea utiful, a typic al h om e m aga
zine. N o cl assifie d a dverti semen ts w ere used.
R esul ts are p re sented i n Figure^10.
F ro m th ese resul t s w e may c oncl ude t hat
unt ru thful ness in a dvertising a s represen ted
by th e use of superla tive s i s dec rea sing.
Wh e rea s i n^1900 th e p erc enta ge o f a dve rti se:
m ent s co nta ining sup e rla tive s was twenty ;
by^1919 i t h a d decrea se d to two. In term s
o f p robabili ty w e migh t asse rt th a t wh erea s
twenty years a go th e ch ance s th a t a n ad
vertiser was telling a n un truth w ere twe n ty
in a h un dre d, to day th ey are b u t two in a