The Motivational Unconscious

Mike Imms paper on the Roots and Theoretical Basis of Qualitative Market Research in the UK ² traced the history and influence of psychoanalytic theory on early research and marketing in the US.

European psychoanalysts displaced by the Second World War found a career in the US working with ad agencies, newly developing media companies and in the public sector. Ad agencies brought in social psychologists, psychoanalysts and cultural anthropologists to analyse commercials and give talks to their staff. Herta Herzog, Paul Lazarsfeld and most famously Ernest Dichter (‘Mr Mass Motivation’ himself) worked with agencies, government departments and corporations.

Some, notably Dichter, made interpretations about unconscious motives, identifying the symbolic, and often the sexual significance of a range of consumer items. ³ Dichter is reputed to have shown that the sports car symbolised the mistress, the saloon car the wife. It was he who suggested that the housewife should add an egg to the Betty Crocker cake mix, to act as an unconscious gift to her family.

Motivational researchers, however, tended to oversell themselves, and some clients became sceptical and suspicious. Vance Packard’s 1957 book The Hidden Persuaders ⁴ helped create an effective backlash, suggesting that psychology was being used to manipulate consumers. It caused a national outcry over ‘... the depth manipulators ... (who) ... try to invade the privacy of our minds.’ (page 216)
 

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