River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1921-02-24
Psychology As Advertising
BY p. w. Ramer

of goods as | choose with the trade
mark l sells / will create fashion in
the purchase of foods as it is in the
purchase of dress.
If the trade objects to paying $500
for the same goods that they could
buy for $3.50 / will call the mer.
chants attention to the fact that he
is in business for profits, and it is
better to sell $500 worth of goods on
20 per cent profit than it is to sell
one dollars worth. Besides this, why
should you take the responsibility of
quality and price, if the consumer is
willing to take it?; why should you
place yourself in position to enable
the consumer to force you to make
good his mistakes? why should you
cater for trouble if the consumer is
willing to relieve you by exercising
his own volition in buying? In short,
it is none of your business why your
customer wants Quaker Oats; it is
your business to sell him what he
wants and secure your profits. Poop
lie do not come to a grocery store for
education, to be dictated to, nor to be
treated as though they did not have
sense enough to know what they want
ed. You take no risk in buying
Quaker Oats for you know that our
advertising will sell it for you, and
besides that, you will make double the
profit on the same amount of goods
consumed. If this applied to your
whole stock, it would double your
profits on the same turnover of goods.
| am not selling you oats, am sell
ing you a business method. The meth
cd applies to oats, but you are selling
the name, not the oats. You cannot
apply this method of doubling your
profits, and relieving yourself of re-
sponsibility by selling oats, but you
can by selling Quaker and giving the
amount of oats that are inclosed und-
er the label bearing the name. This
method can be applied only to adver-
tised names. We create no demand
for oats; they already have demand.
We simply attach our method to the
article in demand. The people demand
the goods under the name we have a
monopoly on and that makes the
method operative.
Experience teaches us that this
method does work successfully and
effects practically all foods that COM
pete for the necessary demand of
people for food, if they come in con-
tact with trade manipulation. This
is the prime cause that produces the
spread in prices between the produc-
1 er and the consumer. The traders in
ideas have so manipulated the public
mind that the people have willingly
| though Internationally" their
birth-right for mess of pottage"
when they forfeited the fundamentals
of the old system for the fundament.
ais of the new system of business,
that has placed the consumers under
bondage to pay purchase tax to Gre
ate excess profits, by trade manipula-
ton.
Excess profits should not be con-
sidered on the basis of large profits.
Any profits through commissions, fl
nance, transportation, storage or any
other cause that adds cost out Of pro-
portion to necessity, as fundamentally
involved under the old system, do not
add exchange value to the goods and
therefor, give nothing of value in re-
turn. That is not business, but it is
method attached to business by manip-
ulation and is fundamentally excess
profits that must be paid by the con-
sumner as purchase tax.