When I mentioned [my puzzlement at North Americans’ abhorrence of commercials in movie theatres, which are accepted in England and elsewhere] to a group of students, one of them volunteered the observation: “We go out with our dates to be alone, and we resent any intrusion on our privacy.” Gradually, I formulated the hypothesis that: “North Americans go outside to be alone and inside to be social, whereas the rest of mankind tends to go outside to be social and goes home to be alone”. This amazing pattern which stands in stark opposition to the habits of the non-American world is borne out by our acceptance of advertising in the home on radio and TV. The North American home is not a place of privacy, but British and Europeans, on the other hand, bitterly resent any such intrusions on their privacy at home. This attitude extends to the telephone, which is allowed to enter British and European homes as little and as inadequately as possible. North Americans, on the other hand, are beginning to accept the outside as social space to the degree that they have become accustomed to having the outside in their sitting room, on TV.