Why did Synergy’s research not throw up more about being altruistic and ‘good’?'Is it good

Why did Synergy’s research not throw up more about being altruistic, and ‘good’?'Is it good to be a good person?’ was Mr Dade’s response ‘Yes Everyone’s gonna answer yes It’s an apple pie question. It goes right in the middle and it turns out to be a non-question,’ he said; a baffling non-answer.I suggested that if everyone was going to agree that you should be altruistic – and given that charity appeals such as Live Aid generate such a dramatic and positive response – you might think that advertisers could play much harder on altruistic values. ‘, but this seemed to be based on inter-reaction between her and a cup of Lemsip rather than another person.To what extent is this a product of value research? On Synergy Brand Values’ map of 46 value dots, only two of them – empathy and environmental action – seem to relate to other people rather than the individual’s own needs. Those in the business stress that adverts don’t dictate values, they merely reflect them. But as they do so, they reinforce.So what are they reinforcing?It’s easy to think of adverts which grab at the up and coming values on Synergy Brand Values’ chart. Androgyny or interchangeable sex roles – the Diet Coke ad, which had female office workers ogling a lithe youth out of the office window; excitement – the Pepsi Max ad showing chaps parachuting off the Grand Canyon; sexuality – Haagen-Dazs.But what about the things we have traditionally thought of as values, and old-fashioned ‘goodness’ – altruism, honesty, integrity, kindness? Last night, I picked out just one ad where a girl sang, ‘When this great, wide world starts turning cold, promise me you’ll be there for meeee, and always care for meee. She identified value shifts towards ‘androgyny’ (interchangeable male and female roles), ‘complexity’ and ‘excitement’.Wilkinson makes the point that advertisers have done a lot better than politicians at keeping up with changing values, rather than trying to impose the values of the past on a populace which has lost interest in external authority.But during an evening’s TV viewing, it’s interesting to consider what values do emerge from advertising.

She spoke of a ‘genderquake’ amongst the 18- 34s; of a new generation of women valuing autonomy, work and education more than a family or parenting; of the feminisation of the workforce; of the failure of many men to adapt to change. This brought the whole business into the public domain.The author, Helen Wilkinson, reported dramatic differences in values between the generations. At the end of September however, Demos, the think-tank, published a booklet, No Turning Back, based on Synergy Brand Values’ survey, and 20 years of previous research. A separate major research project, co-ordinated by the University of Mannheim in Germany, is currently studying ‘Shifts in value orientation amongst the population in Western Europe,’ and will publish its findings next year under the working title, The Impact of Values.An important area of research then, but one which until a month ago lurked way beyond the public gaze. The 2,000 who managed it were rewarded with a pounds 10 Marks and Spencer’s voucher.Values research was pioneered in this country in the Seventies by Dr Elizabeth Nelson of the Taylor Nelson market research company. She was one of the founders of the International Research Institute on Social Change (RISC), a trans-European consultancy body which advises multinational organisations like ICI, British Airways, Unilever and all the big car companies.

They were asked to imagine they were a colour – what colour would they be?The questionnaires were presented by interviewers knocking at doors in randomly selected locations. The interviewers started the questioning off, then left people to complete a booklet of 364 questions. Synergy Brand Values, for example asked people how easy they found it to decide whether they preferred to ‘think about things which can be proved’ or ‘which cannot be proved’; and to precisely what extent they agreed or disagreed that we have the capability to channel energy from the spiritual world. And thus, over the last 20 years or so, beginning in America, the field of values research has been flourishing.There is no thrilling originality in the methodology It’s based on asking people questions. But the questions and their interpretation are more complicated than asking people how many cheesy snacks they get through in a day or how often they have sex. ‘It was ice-cream round the table with the in-laws after Sunday tea.

We encouraged Haagen-Dazs to appeal to values coming through; sexuality, hedonism, excitement, androgyny – there are no clear sex roles in the advertising.’The campaign has had, as we know, spectacular success and captured a whole new market of ice-cream eaters.The value of values to manufacturers, advertisers and politicians is clear.The complex and fluctuating mindset of the populace is less easy to pin down. The old-style ice-cream buyers, he tells me, had top-left-hand corner values: familism, authority, rigidity. Dade’s colleague, David Anthony, explains how values helped Haagen-Dazs persuade a whole new group of consumers to buy posh ice-cream. We’re talking Gordon and Tony.’Whatever you’re trying to push – parties or party food – it helps to know what’s going on in the heads of the populace. They are dynamic, a product of the culture.’ And an excellent means of shifting other products, so long as you understand them.Synergy Brand Values advises manufacturers such as Lyons Tetley, Golden Wonder and Homepride and the advertising agency Bartle Bogle Hegarty. But within the last few months, Dade tells me, Synergy has also been talking to the Liberal Democrats and to senior figures in the Labour party: ‘We’re talking the very top. People are not taking their beliefs from an external authority any more Values have become an evolving thing.