Keep It Simple

The U.S. consumer has done a complete and almost unnoticed turnabout in taste recently. So Researcher Louis Cheskin, director of Chicago's Color Research Institute, this week told the Advertising Federation of America. Said Cheskin: The entire attitude of the American people towards "ostentatious ornamentation" has changed drastically in the last few months, especially in cars. "As recently as last year, our tests showed that people reacted favorably to elaborate ornamentation, gaudy color combinations and chrome trim on cars and other steel products. The recent studies show that people are reacting unfavorably to such functionless frills."

What will sell cars in the future? Says Researcher Cheskin: "The sober look, the dignified form, the basically functional gadget, the single color or truly two-tone color. Useless gadgets do not appeal to the 1958 shoppers and will appeal to the 1959 and 1960 shoppers even less. The jukebox effect will disappear. Elaborate ornamentation of chrome and multiple colors will be discarded. Finally, consumers are also beginning to resent forced obsolescence. When yearly fashions were limited to women's apparel, there was almost universal acceptance. The public did not resist the yearly car design changes. Then other hard-goods makers began planned obsolescence. Perhaps this has broken the camel's back. Now the consumer is in revolt."

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.