A
fourth-page advertisement which is printed on the outer side of the
upper half of the page thus probably has more than twice the
psychological value of one which is printed on the inner side of the
lower half. The economic world spends millions every year for
advertisements on the upper right-hand side and millions for
advertisements on the lower left-hand side, and is not aware that one
represents twice the value of the other. These little illustrations
of advertisement experiments may suffice to indicate how much
haphazard methods are still prevalent in the whole field of economic
psychotechnics, methods which would not be tolerated in the sphere of
physical and chemical technology.
XXI
THE EFFECT OF DISPLAY
If we turn from the simple newspaper advertisement to the means of
propaganda in general, we at once stand before a question which is
often wrongly answered. The practical handbooks of advertisements and
means of display treat it as a self-evident fact that every
presentation should be as beautiful as possible. In the first place,
we cannot deny that the ugly and even the disgusting possess a strong
power for attracting attention. Yet it is true that by a transposition
of feelings the displeasure in the advertisement may easily become a
displeasure in the advertised object. But, on the other hand, it is
surely a mistake to believe that pure beauty best fulfills the
function of the advertisement.
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