How do marketers test the effectiveness of a promotional message? The wedge-of-doubt advertisement began with text that warned:

“If you think it’s difficult admitting your hearing problem, imagine admitting all the mistakes you’ve made because of it.” At the bottom, the advertisement read: “When you can’t hear clearly, it’s easy to misunderstand someone. And before you know it, people start thinking you’ve lost your mental edge.”

Once these messages had been tested with various audiences, they were adapted for delivery via other media vehicles: mass media

(i.e., those that are standard in their appeal), namely print ads and television ads, and private media (which are customized to appeal to their target), specifically telemarketing phone calls and direct marketing mailings.