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At a time when national companies were aggressively jockeying for position among Americans—a suddenly cash-happy and acquisitive bunch—Dichter promised a way to influence consumers’ brains. If shopping was an emotional minefield, then strategic marketing could be a gold mine for companies.
Between the late 1930s and 1960s Dichter became famous for transforming the fates of businesses such as Procter & Gamble, Exxon, Chrysler, General Mills and DuPont. His insight changed the way hundreds of products were sold, from cars to cake mix. He pioneered research techniques such as the focus group, understood the power of word-of-mouth persuasion and earned startling fees for his theories. By the late 1950s his global business reached an annual turnover of $1m ($8m today), and he enjoyed a reputation as the Freud of the supermarket age.
Dichter’s radical approach to goading shoppers, called “motivational research”, was considered so successful that he was even accused of threatening America’s national well-being. Americans have become “the most manipulated people outside the Iron Curtain,” complained Vance Packard, a sociologist and virulent critic, in his 1957 book “The Hidden Persuaders”. Even so, Dichter’s fame waned long before he died in 1991. He spent his later years as a discarded guru in Peekskill, New York, scribbling the occasional book about management or motivation. Media research moved on his name has largely been forgotten. Yet many of his ideas about the role of the unconscious in sales are now back in fashion.

A. 어휘
aggressively 공격적으로. jockey for position 상대를 밀어내고 앞서다.
acquisitive 욕심 많은, 탐내는. bunch 떼거리, 다발.
minefield 광석 埋藏(매장) 지역, 광산. transform 변형시키다.
fates 운명. insight 통찰.
focus group 테스트할 상품에 대해서 토의하는 소비자 그룹.
startling 놀라운. annual turnover 연간 총매상고.
radical 급진적인, 과격한, 혁명적인. goad 자극하다, 격려하다.
“motivational research” 〔구매〕동기조사. accused 비난하다.
threaten 위협하다. national well-being 국민복지.
manipulate 조종하다, 교묘하게 造作(조작)하다. virulent 악성의, 유독한.
critic 비평가, 비판가. wane 감퇴하다, 쇠약해지다. discard 버리다.
guru 권위자, 힌두교 도사. scribble 갈겨쓰다.