THE CHOICE OF THE APPEAL

OUTLINE

I. The appeal by Suggestion is emphasized in selling products which enable the prospect to realize pleasure or satisfaction by gratifying an emotional desire.

II. The appeal by Deliberation is emphasized in selling products which enable the prospect to realize a gain in dollars and cents.

TH

THE CHOICE OF THE APPEAL

HE appeal by Suggestion results in immediate action, the appeal by Deliberation results in delayed action. The latter is characterized by a resultant loss of time in causing the prospect to arrive at a buying decision.

Why then employ the appeal by Deliberation at all? Why can not the man who has a product to sell, always rely upon the appeal by Suggestion, winning the prospect to his way of thinking without loss of time?

The answer is more or less obvious. The specific process by which the prospect arrives at a buying decision has direct relation to the nature of the product.

Products may be serviceable or they may be of the nature of a luxury. In the purchase of a luxury, the memories and impressions stored in the subconscious mind, when once awakened by Suggestion, will likely impel the individual to act upon instinct. But not so, if the product is essentially of a serviceable nature, a product that promises gain in dollars and cents. In this latter case, the individual, before investing his money, will weigh carefully the advantages for and against purchase, and employing his reasoning mind he will arrive at a buying decision by a process of Deliberation.

"Without thinking," the business man may purchase luscious oranges on display in the grocer's window that appeal to his instinct of appetite, and his wife may likewise purchase an expensive fur wrap displayed in the furrier's window that appeals to her instinct of exclusiveness. The oranges, and the expensive fur wrap, are products which enable the prospect to gratify emotional desires.

But one can hardly imagine a business man deciding on impulse to buy a product of so serviceable a nature as an automobile delivery truck. Experienced salesmen know that he will, on the contrary, "reason out" the advisability of accepting such ideas as they want him to

accept, and of taking such action as they want him to take. His business would soon suffer if this were not his habit.

It is clear then that when the product gratifies an emotional desire, when it gives promise of pleasure and enjoyment, the appeal by Suggestion is indicated; and that when the product meets a need, when it gives promise of a gain in dollars and cents, the appeal by Deliberation is indicated.

To advertising men, the appeal which is based upon the principles of Suggestion is known as the Short Circuit, or Human Interest, appeal; the appeal which is based upon the principles of Deliberation is known as the Long Circuit, or Reason Why, appeal.

The Short Circuit appeal, being based upon Suggestion, is therefore properly emphasized in selling all articles of an intimate and personal nature. Articles in this list include:

(1) Foods, particularly such foods as gratify the sense of taste, rather than provide necessary nourishment.

(2) Cigars, smoking tobacco, candy, drinks, since these afford personal enjoyment by enabling the prospect to gratify an appetite.

(3) Wearing apparel, particularly such wearing apparel as improves the appearance.

(4) Jewelry, toilet articles, expensive dresses, wraps, furs, and other products that give enjoyment by adorning the person. (5) Life insurance (unless it is regarded as an investment), safety devices, and similar articles that enable the prospect to look out for his own personal safety and that of his family. (6) Motion pictures, phonographs, books, and similar products that contribute to the enjoyment of the prospect, and of his family, and do not put money in the pocket.

It is by no means always easy to determine whether a product comes under one sort of appeal or the other. An electric washing machine, for example, may be regarded as a highly useful article which meets a need by effecting a saving in time and money. Or it may be regarded as an article which enables the housewife to gratify her desire for rest and relaxation. An automobile may be regarded as meeting a need of the business man, or as enabling him, or his wife, to gratify a desire for

social prestige. The relative effectiveness of the two sorts of appeal in the case of any given product, may be determined by the salesmen on the road, or by the representative of the advertising agency in a house-tohouse canvass, or, preferably, by both.

Contrast the following two electric washer advertisements, the first emphasizing the Short Circuit appeal, the second emphasizing the Reason Why appeal:

What a perfectly glorious gift. Blue Bird! solving forever the greatest problem, the greatest burden of housework. An hour or so of a morning and the week's washing vanishes. On the line by noon, without rubbing or puddling-without work, without rending, without wear on the clothes. Such is the Blue Bird's way.

Isn't it amazing to realize that now "the washing" is only a source of gladness-a delightful means of unlimited cleanliness?

The 1900 Cataract Washer operates on a Figure 8 principle, by which the sudsy, cleansing water is forced through the clothes in a figure 8 movement which sends it through them four times as often as does the ordinary washer. This is an exclusive feature of the 1900 Washer.

You can swing the wringer-which works electrically-from the washer over to the rinse water, then to the blue water, and then to the clothes-basket, without moving or shifting the washer an inch.

The gleaming copper tub has no parts to rub against the clothes to cause wear and tear, and no heavy cylinders to lift out and clean after the wash is finished. Delicate waists, fine underwear, or even bed and table linen can be washed in the 1900. This means a big saving in laundry bills. And you have the comfortable knowledge that your clothes are not being washed in the same water as other people's.

Just connect your 1900 Washer with the electric light socket and pull back the lever. Off it starts, and in less than ten minutes out come the clothes, white and clean. Costs less than two cents an hour to operate. The tubs come in two sizes, holding the equivalent of eight and twelve sheets.