"Before reader-research had amassed evidence about the kinds of pictures that attracted readers of various types, the only criteria of choice were subjective preference or empirical deduction. It is still very necessary to use these criteria, but we now have a considerable body of data that helps us to use them more intelligently and with a greater degree of certainty."
"The following list of Picture Subjects Most Interesting to Men is made up from analytical studies of readership reports gathered over a period of nearly 20 years:"
Men
Men and women (provided the man or men be more prominent than the woman or women)
Mechanical products and apparatus
Diagrams and maps
Liquor bottles and drinking accessories
Sports scenes and equipment
Dogs, horses and other animals usually owned or used primarily by men
Game animals
Scenes showing conflict
"Don't expect to attract many men with pictures of children or domestic situations. Men chiefly like scenes of masculine action and pictures of the things they use or might use."
"The annual Christmas joke about the little boy who cries because his father hogs his electric train has a point for advertisers; men love mechanical things."
From "Reader Research and the Art Director's Job" in the March 1952 issues of Art Director and Studio News.
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