Advertising, ad campaigns, ad agencies, and the people that make it happen

Ever since the days of Vance Packard’s “Hidden Persuaders” the great unwashed public has been convinced that the charlatans of the ad biz (people like me,) have been subjecting them to “subliminal” advertising. Well, they may just have a point. A recent report by researchers from the University of Leicester, who did an experiment with a display of French and German wines in a British supermarket, shows that on alternate days, when the store played French, then German music in the background, on French music days 77 percent of the wine sold was French, on German music days 73 percent was German. Now, we are not talking subtle here -- this was French bistro, cafe accordion music, versus a full-blown German oompah - oompah band -- but when questioned at the end of the checkout line, only one in 44 shoppers mentioned the musical influence, and 86 percent were sure it played no role in their choice. Do you think if they had been selling Scotch, a 50 piece bagpipe ensemble would have been considered as a non-factor?

Haggis is on sale       on aisle five!