Campaign Against Hatless Men In New Zealand

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 14, Issue 57, 31 October 1949, Page 4

Campaign Against Hatless Men In New Zealand

Hatless men are the “enemies” to be “fought” by a campaign now under way throughout New Zealand.

Perturbed by a large decrease in male hat-wearers, the Dominion’s hat manufacturers and the New Zealand Retailers’ Association have combined in an effort to make the public “hat-conscious” once again. The campaign was launched in a flury of national newspaper and radio advertising in the middle of last month. Then window-dressing displays in hats were staged at. all competitive towns throughout the Dominion.

The latter—so agree some retailers who pass on the hats to the public—have done more to make hat wearers “hat-conscious” than any other scheme. Sales results have not “boomed,” but retailers agree that in making the general public “hat-conscious” once again, the campaign has been invaluable. One retailer bemoaned the fact that the numbers of young hatwearers were diminishing rapidly. Previously, he indicated, one of the youth’s first appointments after leaving school was with a hat shop. The campaign, he considered, would do much to combat this trend, to make the public “hat-con-scious” once again, to keep New Zealand hat manufacturers operating as previously, and to keep the hat-selling trade flourishing still.