Mass Persuasion - The Social Psychology of a War Bond Drive

by Robert K Merton, 1946 

• This book is about one specific war bond drive, called "War Bond Day" and aired over the Columbia Broadcasting System, as in CBS, yes that CBS, on September 21, 1943, and by broadcaster Kate Smith. Note - this radio station went off the air about March 19, 2026, the day I finished this book. 
• Merton and the Bureau of Applied Social Research conducted this study from hundreds of surveys and interviews of the radio-listening American public. 
• This war bond drive is considered "an extraordinary instance of mass persuasion"
• On Mass Persuasion, the Marathon Gestalt, and Compulsive Listening - "The idea that her voice, and energy might not endure was suggested by Smith herself ... and one listener ... noted in the evening 'The voice gave out. It was getting weaker. Her finish was 'will you buy a bond' and it was weaker and weaker," p31 [she is sacrificing herself, on-air]
• "The performer who is on the edge of failure evokes sustained interest. No one is interested in seeing a weight lifter toss up 10 pounds; there is no zest in watching him fail to budge a thousand pounds, but somewhere in between, where he might succeed or fail, the spectators hold their breath." p31
• "If ... I hoped a lot of people would rush in and revive her with the response of buying bonds." p32 [I'm thinking of Go Fund Me's success; it's a real-life version of this.]
• ... and the listeners "watch the sacrifice" of others (like Kate Smith) p40
• you appeal to the sacred, not the secular; patriotism, not sound financial investment, and you offer no incentives (gifts in return), because that negates the sacredness of the thing. p48
• Their data says it worked because they think she's sincere. Why?
• She sells products on other commercials just the same ... people like her more. Also , she wasn't getting paid for the extra 18 hours "so it must be genuine" p84-85
• But now, because of the marathon, it validates the sincerity that's already there. p89
• The marathon broadcast took on the attributes of a sacrificial ritual. p92
• She's also seen as patriotic (re selling war bonds), and moreso than the politicians; it's not actual service but dramatized events. That's what connects to regular people. p101
• Of those who were persuaded to buy, they fell into these groups:

1. The Predisposed - they didn't even pay attention since they were going to buy regardless
2. The Susceptible - they were guilted into it; she redefines the appropriate amount, modifying the norm. And she redefines by staying on the air all day; she's doing more, so you should do more. 
3. The Indifferent - they see the bonds as a practical investment. 
4. The Undisposed - they require little cumulative persuasion (only listening to 8 of the 30 broadcasts). But a lot of this group called thinking they would talk to Kate personally. They just like her. (and it's mentioned here that she's fat and that 'it's easier to trust someone who's fat')

• In opposition to what rich people would do in response to a request for bonds (they would be greedy and selfish of course) there was an aggressive attitude towards the rich and how they spend their money. "But characteristically, the aggression is directed towards the wealthy (I)people(I) not the (I)institutional(I) structure that permits of such seeming unhappiness and moral disintegration [of the rich, that is] p166
• "Mass persuasion is not manipulative when it provides access to the pertinent facts; it is manipulative when the appeal to sentiments is used to the exclusion of pertinent information." p186
• On the Moral Dilemma of Mass Persuasion - What are the effects upon personality of being subjected to virtual terrorization by advertisements which threaten the individual with social ostracization unless he uses the advertised defense against halitosis or B.O.? Or, more relevantly, what are the effects, in addition to increasing the sale of bonds, of terrorizing the parents of boys in the service by the threat that only through their purchase of war bonds can they ensure the safety of their sons and their ultimate return home? ... A society subjected ceaselessly to a flow of "effective" half-truths and the exploitation of mass anxieties may all the sooner lose that mutuality of confidence and reciprocal trust so essential to a stable social structure." p188-189