Trends Day

The afternoon began with Jan Le Cluse and Dan Fletcher's paper on Conflict Resolution, an interesting exposition, if tenuously linked to qualitative research, of the concept of "winning with", as opposed to "winning over", as a strategy for getting what you want.

Pam Hanley, senior research officer at the ITC, used her Naturalia Nipple Case as the starting point for her rather depressing piece on "Nudity i Advertising". She concluded that the issues surrounding nudity in advertising were so complex that the 12-point "footprint" model evolved in the research for assessing potential acceptability of ads should be made available to advertisers as an aid to judgement.

"Shop till you drop!" was a briskly delivered two-hander by Ann Whalley and Judith Dobbyn, covering a truly vast subject area in a style more journalistic than enquiring. The mechanics of the shopping process, store layout and presentation, customers' desire for educaiton and empowerment, and the role of food and drink in the human psyche were all topics which were considered at a canter.

The Trends Day was rounded off by the imimitable Charlie Robertson who explained in a punchy, concentrated and disarming way his vision for "virtual planning", as currently and revolutionarily articulated by Red Spider. All in all a day which was provoking, at times alarming, but never dull.

Roddy Glen