Abstract:

The People and Gold is the title of a consumer research project carried out by InterScan during 1969. The project was concerned with investigating the consumer markets for gold in a number of countries. We took the title from one of the items in the brief given to us by our client. Consolidated Gold Fields Limited, one of the world's leading mining groups. The brief asked us to analyse for each important country: 1. The 'normal' psychological relationship between the people and gold; 2. The extent to which jewellery is looked on as providing a store of value; 3. Differences in gold-orientation by wealth level; 4. The psychological effects of increasing gold prices on the proportion of available cash going into gold; 5. The deterrent effect of current regulations on hoarding, if any. "The "important countries" were listed as U.S.A. , Canada, U.K. , Germany, France, Italy, Switzerland, Japan and India.