Open Writing

Robert Browning once wrote that a certain man "said true things, but called them by wrong names." Such could be said of the General Motors executives who wrote a corporate-wide memorandum last June 10 about phasing out the "Chevy" nickname when referring to Chevrolets. It read in part, "When you look at the most recognized brands throughout the world, such as Coke or Apple, for instance, one of the things they all focus on is the consistency of their branding." Apparently, the execs forgot that "Coke" is a nickname for "Coca-Cola," and Mac and iPhone users usually refer to their devices as such instead of "Apple."

That same day, "Wheels," the NY Times automotive blog, reported, "News of the phase-out spread quickly...The overwhelming response prompted G.M. to issue a formal news statement on the change." This second statement came from higher up and called the earlier memo "poorly worded," and added, "We love Chevy."

Companies now specialize in coming up with new names that will delight, rather than offend, potential customers world-wide. They're paid well for this research, for as Ralph Waldo Emerson noted, "No orator can measure in effect with him who can give good nicknames." Data mining, the sifting through consumers' online personal data, like subjects you search for on the Internet, and products you mention in email to determine your preferences for shopping, voting, and other interests.

Companies pay those who are adept at this well, so how much did the neurologists make who helped Campbell Soup redesign their can labels? A Wall Street Journal article titled "The Emotional Quotient of Soup Shopping" describes how new-fangled "neuromarketing" experts spent two years studying test subjects' biometricts, like microscopic changes in skin moistness and heart rate, as they looked at Campbell Soup labels and store displays. The participants were interviewed and analyzed at home and in stores, and "researchers found that warmth and other positive attributes people associated with Campbell's soup at home evaporated when they faced store shelves.

"Typically, consumers show simultaneous blips in most of their biological metrics when they decide to buy something … But the array of condensed soups so overwhelmed many participants that they would quickly scan the category and select soups while evidencing little biometric response." The participants thought the soup on the current can label exudes insufficient warmth, and they didn't like the spoons in the artwork.

So this fall you can look for new color-coded soup categories with smaller company logos on the cans, except for "Campbell's three biggest sellers – chicken noodle, tomato, and cream of mushroom, the soup cans immortalized by Andy Warhol – will remain the same. But on other labels, steam will rise from larger, more vibrant pictures of soup in more modern, white bowls. And those unemotional spoons will disappear."

Spinning the news is another way companies try to get inside our heads. You probably heard that Amazon now sells more ebooks than print books, or you think you did. Amazon wasn't counting pocket and trade paperbacks, only hardbacks. Meanwhile, the American Book Publishers Association reports that hardback book sales are up 22 percent this year. The cost of most ebooks is closer to paperbacks than books designed to last a while, and Amazon has sold ebooks at a loss for some time to boost the market. Also, books printed on acid-free paper can be expected to last centuries, while current ebook readers won't last a decade. Moreover, when you buy a print book, it's yours to keep; when you buy an ebook, it's yours to use, but you can't loan it to someone else, and the ebook provider can often change, edit, or remove it from your reader at will, as Amazon did with Orwell's "1984" a year ago.

Here's statistics you can rely on: on average 6,648 people walk through your public library's doors every week to find print and electronic information, and 4,040 more use the library webpage weekly to reserve books, and download music, audio books, and ebooks. Your library's a hopping place online and in print. As the Victorian essayist Logan Pearsall Smith wrote, "Our names are labels, plainly printed on the bottled essence of our past behavior."