Abstract:

This report of a discussion nearly thirty years ago contains more questions than answers. Would it he so different today ? It begins promisingly, with a creative man asking the questions. He breaks down the problem into the same three stages as in this book, which he calls fact-finding, creating the advertisement and after-publication checking. The reply by the researchers ignores questions of strategy, as ‘discussed on other occasions’. The centre section sounds a far cry from the qualitative input of today’s researcher, though much may be concealed under the phrase 'selection' by group interviewing’. It seems that ‘liking’ was a major element in consumer research at the time. The brief post-publication section contains material still familiar to us and is put forward more cautiously than do some people today. The main reason for reprinting this paper is therefore the copywriter’s appeal for help. Today the writer who expresses himself on research is more likely to object to its having too much influence. But his problems, as described here, are the same.