H OW T O A R OU S E I N T E RE S T 85
know ab ou t th e ch a rac te r a n d abili ty of th e
me n a t th e h ea d o f th e affairs. B eside s, p eopl e
like to rea d abo ut succ essful me n i n o rder to
disc ove r th e sec re t of th ei r succ es s.
H owso eve r we explai n th ese quali tie s, w e
know fo r c e rtain th a t during th e grea t ex
pansion of a dve rtisin g o f th e p a st t wen ty
yea rs, th e use o f inf orm a tion-giving a dver
tisements h a s i ncrease d i n th e ra ti o from
twen ty-two to seventy-fo ur i n a h un dre d. An d
th a t a mong inform a tional fac t s, c ert ai n
group s h ave bee n n um e rically favore d ove r
o th ers. Th e en te rp rising c opy-wri te r wh o de
si re s to p rofi t by th e exp eri enc e of the p a s t
may well ad op t th e p rac tic e o f a rousin g inte r
e s t by mea n s o f i nfo rm a ti onal c opy, a nd may
well c onsi de r se rio usly th e re sul ts o f ou r
i nvestigation sh owing th e rela tive val ue o f
diff eren t cl a sse s o f i nteres t- evoking fa c ts.
Second l aw of interest. Leaving now th e un
limite d p ossibilitie s o f va ria ti on in th e sp readin g of info rm ation ab out a c ommo di ty, l e t u s
pass on to a n oth er ph ase. F o r th e re i s ano th e r
p sych ol ogi cal l a w o f i nt e re st : I n o rder to
crea te interest in a thing, arou se ac tivity to
war d it. We m ay see thi s l aw exempl ifie d
i n the m eth ods p ursued by vari ous organiza