Cars & Cooties
The Under-Explored Force in
Product Design and Marketing

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by Robert Winter

SYNOPSIS:  When we shop for cars, what we're mainly buying is product "image."


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What cooties are:  a phenomenon throughout life, not just on the playground.

 

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The main function of the automotive press is to tell us which cars have the cooties.

 

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butnsqar.gif (1086 bytes) The most commonly cited rational reasons for our changing car preferences have a way of skittering away under scrutiny. 

 

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butnsqar.gif (1086 bytes) Fear of getting the cooties drives today's car designs to be excessively imitative. 

 

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butnsqar.gif (1086 bytes) Our shopping is cootie-based when we can't evaluate products on their real merits.   
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(c) COPYRIGHT 1998 ROBERT WINTER.  ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.


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