H OW T O A R OU S E I N T E RE S T 79
is ; I n o rder to crea te interest in a thing,
gie e informa tion a bout it. W e may see the
forc e of this l aw i f w e exami ne so me i nt eres t
i n th e co u rse o f devel opm en t. Take th e in
ter est of a typical young girl in a c e rtain
mo vi e a cto r. Sh e know s th e na m e of every
pic ture i n whic h h e h a s appeare d ; h i s a ge ;
the col o r of hi s h ai r, eye s a n d a ut omobil e.
S he ch e ri sh e s th e se fa ct s a n d f on dle s th em a s
a p recious ro sary with which sh e p ay s h e r de
vo tions. Th ey c on stitut e th e p sych ol ogical
basi s of h e r inte rest. Th e a stut e p res s- a gen t
knows this, an d a t w ell - time d int erval s, h e
l et s slip th rough th e p re ss a few it em s. a n d
a necdote s abou t th e sta r whi ch fa n th e i nterest
of th e fai r devo te e to a still white r h e a t.
Sel ler s in ge neral m ay p rofitably foll ow
this example, disseminating in forma tion ab ou t
th ei r wa res. P rogressive a dvertisers h ave b een
making m uch use of this devic e within th e p a s t
few years. Prob ably th ey h ave no t c on
scio usl y applie d o ar rule ; b u t i n st udyi ng th e
effe cts o f the va rious el ement s in th ei r a d
vertisements, they h ave discovere d th at in
fo rmati on-givi ng a dvertisement s b ring re
sul ts ; a n d so th ey h ave inc rease d th e use o f
th em. Of^1000 a dve rtiseme nt s i n Co l lier’sWeekly fo r (^1902) o nly (^220) , o r twenty-two p e r