Question asked: Have you read the half-page announcement of the Ministry of Labour in the papers which was headed “How the call-up affects the women of Britain”? Was there anything in it you did not know before? Was there anything you did not understand? Have you still got it?
These questions were asked a few weeks after the announcement had been published, and more than half said that they had read it. A greater number of those who had registered had read it than those who had not yet registered.
Have you read the half page announcement?
Registered
Not Registered
Total
Yes, read part of it
67%
55%
60%
Glanced through
4%
3%
3%
Not sure, think I did
2%
6%
5%
No
27%
36%
32%
Sample
1318
1522
2840
Class differences exist in the “not registered” group, where the A and B class has a higher proportion of those reading the announcement than the C and D class
A and B
C and D
Read or looked at the announcement
73%
58%
Has not read it
27%
42%
Sample
608
914
Existing age differences can be seen from the following table:-
A and B
C and D
Up to 30
31-36
37-50
Up to 30
31-36
37-50
Read or looked at the announcement
75%
73%
63%
71%
72%
55%
Has not read it
25%
27%
37%
29%
28%
45%
Sample
168
116
298
773
427
783
The older age group had fewer readers of the announcement. There is also a very slight difference between the working and “not working” group, there being a higher percentage of people who had read the announcement in the working group.
All these group differences indicated a trend among people to read advertisements more readily if they have an immediate bearing on their own lives.
The announcement said that people should keep it for future reference. In the sample 22% said that they still had it - that was about a month after its appearances.
Asked whether they had learned something new from the announcement, one eighth said that they had.
Has learned anything from the announcement
Yes
12%
Uncertain
12%
No
76%
Sample
1400
This result has to be interpreted with care, as it is quite possible that people had forgotten reading the announcement, and also what they had learned from it.
