Researchers must coax out the elephant in the room

This article discusses the irrationality of many consumer choices, using examples of the 'Saab driver' to represent rational, conscious thinking and 'a rider on an elephant' to illustrate sub-conscious thinking.

Researchers must coax out the elephant in the room

Rory Sutherland Ogilvy

"How did the Le Shuttle research go?"

"First was okay. But the second group was a bit of a write-off. We had a Saab driver in it."

This conversation happened over ten years ago – which is why we referred to Le Shuttle, rather than Eurotunnel. We had been interviewing groups of people who routinely took their cars across the Channel in a bid to discover their relative preferences for the (then still relatively new) train service versus the old-established ferries.

This was the first I had...

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