Introduction

The investigation was carried out for the Ministry of Food. Its purpose was to find out to what extent National Milk Cocoa was used in the factories which applied for it; the attitude of the adolescents to it, and the difficulties experienced by the canteen manager or other persons who had to deal with N.A.M.C.O. in serving and storing it.

The investigation was carried out in April, 1944.

453 factories, offices, and clubs all over England serving N.A.M.C.O were visited, and the person responsible for the handling of N.A.M.C.O.interviewed. The questions asked are enumerated in Appendix 1.

The names of these 453 places of work were chosen at random from six lists of firms, clubs, and hostels, which had applied for N.A.M.C.O., and were provided by the six producers of N.A.M.C.O.. In addition to the interviews with people responsible for the handling and supplying of N.A.M.C.O., 972 adolescents were interrogated on their attitude to this new drink. These 972 adolescents were chosen at random from the firms visited, irrespective of whether or not they took N.A.M.C.O.. (For details of sample see Appendix 2). The basis of the interview was the questions shown in Appendix 3.

Summary

75% of the juveniles who had the opportunity took N.A.M.C.O., Four-fifths of these like it very much and half of those who take it prefer it to the cocoa at home.

Only one-third of those who do not take it had given it a fair trial.

More juveniles take N.A.M.C.O. in those firms where it is brought to their place of work or where they prepare it themselves. N.A.M.C.O.seems least popular in those firms where it is served in the canteen at lunch-time.

The majority, 78% of the firms, prepare N.A.M.C.O.in accordance with the instructions; those who do not, use smaller quantities of N.A.M.C.O.per cup than is suggested by the Ministry of Food.

A certain number of juveniles complain that it is not sweet enough. The majority who do not like it find it too sweet and rich, and they are often the people who do not like any milk drinks.

36% of the firms give N.A.M.C.O.without charge, and the juveniles find the price reasonable where they have to pay for it.

The firms feel fairly satisfied with the quality and delivery of the supply.

3 2 4 3

Description of Firms visited

The interviewer was asked to describe the firm she visited in the following terms:-

Whether it was in the main factory or office, offices attached to factories were counted as ‘factory’;

Industry of the firm;

Number of employees;

Canteen facilities in existence.

A number of firms had a factory and an office where juveniles were employed, so in all such cases a number of questions were asked separately for factory and office. Certain people who were not employed either in offices or works, like cleaners, warehousemen, etc, were counted in a category ‘others’ as were the juveniles who were interviewed in clubs and training centres.

The next table shows the number of all employees in factories and offices of the firm for which information was obtained.

Here the sample of 453 firms visited has been divided up into number of factories, offices, other places of work as N.A.M.C.O.was often prepared in different conditions for the various departments within a firm.

Table 4

The adolescents interviewed were from factories, offices, shop and stores of the following size:-

Number of interviews in the supplier’s regions

As already stated the sample was chosen from customers lists of the six suppliers of N.A.M.C.O.. The next table shows the number of firms visited in the region of each supplier.

Each firm interviewed was also asked the starting date of N.A.M.C.O.and the efforts made to publicise the serving of N.A.M.C.O..

No interpretation of this table can be attempted without knowledge of the dates and extent of the publicity campaign, but half the sample had only a very short experience, not more than two months, of serving N.A.M.C.O..

The taking up of N.A.M.C.O.

Both juveniles and the N.A.M.C.O.manager were asked questions about the number who take the drink in that particular firm.

The N.A.M.C.O.manager was asked how many of the under 18s take N.A.M.C.O., while each juvenile was asked: “Do you have National Milk Cocoa?”

5 4 6 5

Statement of N.A.M.C.O.manager on the number who take it.

Not quite half the firms serve it to all young people. The rest to less. There is a certain difference between factory and office workers in the proportion which takes N.A.M.C.O.

(Here the sample is smaller than in Table 3 as not all the departments of the firms visited employed adolescents)

In more offices all adolescents take N.A.M.C.O., but in interpreting the figure it must be kept in mind that some offices only employ a few juveniles.

The number of employees in a factory or office who take N.A.M.C.O.also depends on who makes and serves the N.A.M.C.O.- the adolescents themselves or somebody employed by the management, and whether it is served in a canteen or at the place of work.

(N.B. in a few cases both management and juveniles prepared N.A.M.C.O.)

It is obvious that in factories as well as offices a much greater percentage of the employees take N.A.M.C.O.if it is made and prepared by themselves.

The extent of consumption also depends on whether N.A.M.C.O.is served at the place of work or in a canteen.

(Here the sample is smaller than in Table 9 as it was not recorded in each case whether or not there was a canteen.)

Many more youngsters take N.A.M.C.O.if it is served at their place of work than if they have to get it from the canteen. One reason for this might be that very often if it is served in a canteen it is available only at lunch-time and people do not want cocoa with their lunch.

Statement of adolescents on taking N.A.M.C.O.

Three-quarters of the young people who have the opportunity of taking N.A.M.C.O., make use of it.

Certain group differences exist, and a comparison in sex grouping shows this.

The difference between boys and girls is just statistically significant. Slightly more girls take N.A.M.C.O., but whether this difference is due to sex or occupation is difficult to decide. If the adolescents are divided up into groups according to their occupation, the following table is obtained.

Slightly more office workers than factory workers take N.A.M.C.O.and even more youngsters take it when it is given to them at hostels and training centres.

N.A.M.C.O.seems equally popular with the three age groups:- the under 15s, 15-16 years, 17-18 years.

Frequency of serving N.A.M.C.O.

This question was also asked of N.A.M.C.O.managers and adolescents. The analysis of the results shows:

Statement of N.A.M.C.O.managers

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The daily frequency with which N.A.M.C.O. is served

More than a quarter of the factories serve it twice a day to the same people, and a small percentage serve it irregularly.

The juveniles’ statement on frequency

The results of the two tables compare fairly well, but it shows that not all juveniles take N.A.M.C.O.twice a day where they have the opportunity, and that a certain number do take it irregularly although it is served every day.

In the next table the frequency of serving N.A.M.C.O., as stated by the management is related to the statements of the juveniles on how often they take it during a day.

If N.A.M.C.O.is served twice a day not quite two-thirds of the juveniles take it twice. The number who take it infrequently when it is served regularly is rather small.

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Sex differences

More boys than girls take N.A.M.C.O.only irregularly. The explanation of this figure lies most probably in the fact that more boys get their N.A.M.C.O.supply from clubs and training centres where they do not go regularly every night.

Serving to the over 18’s.

This was a delicate question and could not be asked in a straightforward manner; the roundabout way we used to get this information was to ask what was done with the supply left over. Only N.A.M.C.O.managers were asked this question.

Use of left over N.A.M.C.O.

13% of the firms admitted that they serve it to the over 18’s though our interviewers reported that most probably the number is higher. To give an example, in one case the interviewer was assured that only the under 18’s had N.A.M.C.O., but afterwards during a general chat she was suddenly told that N.A.M.C.O.was very popular, especially with the older men. In another case the interviewer found the manager just drinking a cup of N.A.M.C.O., and she was assured that only the under 18s had it, but the manager added from time to time he tried it to see whether it was all right.

How N.A.M.C.O.is liked

The adolescents were asked how they liked N.A.M.C.O.

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What do you think of N.A.M.C.O.?

Four-fifths of the adolescents who take N.A.M.C.O.like it, only 3% do not like it. Those who like it with reservations say they like it but it is too sweet, too rich, too milky, too nourishing, too fattening, or not sweet enough. We actually came across one firm which added saccharine, explaining that they found their people did not like saccharine in tea but did not mind it in cocoa.

The second question relevant in this connection was asked of all people who took N.A.M.C.O.and also had cocoa or other milk drinks (tea and coffee excluded) (at home). It was worded: “How do the milk drinks you have at home compare with N.A.M.C.O.?”

Nearly half of the young people who are used to drinking cocoa prefer N.A.M.C.O. to the usual cocoa they get at home, another quarter thinks N.A.M.C.O. equally good. One-fifth prefer the home cocoa to N.A.M.C.O..

Nearly half of the adolescents who do not take cocoa at home prefer other milk drinks to N.A.M.C.O.; the others either prefer N.A.M.C.O. or find that it compares quite well with the drinks they are used to.

Age is a factor influencing the liking of N.A.M.C.O.

Fewer adolescents in the 17 - 18 age group are keen on N.A.M.C.O. It is not so much that more positively dislike it but more have reservations to make, namely that it is too sickly and fattening. No sex difference could be found.

10 9 11 10

Dislike of N.A.M.C.O.

25% of the juveniles did not take the N.A.M.C.O. offered to them and 3% took it, but did not like it. It seemed interesting to find out what were the main reasons for the unfavourable attitude.

The first question asked of those who did not take N.A.M.C.O. at the time of the interview was whether they had ever tried it.

More than a third of the 25% adolescents who do not take N.A.M.C.O. have never tried it. Another third took it for a time but gave it up. The rest had only tried it once and never tried it again.

Those who gave it up, or had never tried it, were asked why they had this attitude. The answers were as follows:-

The group “Miscellaneous” contains remarks like the following:- from those who had tried it:

“Just stopped drinking anything in the morning”.

“Have to wait a long time while it is made”.

“Got fed up with it, same thing over and over again”.

“Prefer to read, so don’t go to canteen”.

“The cook in the canteen did not want to make it - like it alright”.

“Used to make me sleepy - like it but I shan’t do any work”.

“Don’t like it with dinner, prefer it -mid-morning”.

“Gave it up until the cold weather again. Think it is too heating to the body to take in the summer, they give us lemonade here now”.

and from those who had never tried it:-

“Never drink anything at work”.

“We get free tea and like to make it ourselves”.

“Only been here since last Tuesday - had not had any given to her”.

“Told it wasn’t very nice - not very sweet”.

“Only served out midday with the dinners in the canteen - I always go outside for my dinner anyway”.

“I don’t like cocoa with dinner”.

“Getting on for the summer - too hot for it”.

The most interesting figures in the foregoing table are the 23% who never tried N.A.M.C.O. because they had never thought of taking it, and the 11% who found that it is only occasionally available.

Those who had tried it but had given it up were also asked how it compared with the milk drinks they have at home. If the answers are compared with those given to the same question by the people who take N.A.M.C.O. the following table is obtained.

Many more of the people who have given up N.A.M.C.O. like their home drinks better than N.A.M.C.O. compared with those who still take it. Of course, this table does not tell whether the people who gave up N.A.M.C.O. did so because they like their home drinks much better, or because they had not made acquaintance with N.A.M.C.O. and prefer the familiar.

Drinks taken in place of N.A.M.C.O.

In order to see what drinks N.A.M.C.O. has replaced or what drinks are taken in place of N.A.M.C.O., adolescents were asked “What do you have, or did you have, in place of N.A.M.C.O. ?”

Tea is the greatest competitor of N.A.M.C.O. as one would have expected, but that 12% who do not take N.A.M.C.O. now drink cocoa is a little surprising.

A further analysis of those answers showed that a number of these juveniles thought they got cocoa when in fact they had N.A.M.C.O. About seven answers are from the hostel for working lads in Edinburgh where the managers thought that N.A.M.C.O. was too expensive and that they preferred to give their charges some sort of cocoa which they could make more cheaply.

The price of N.A.M.C.O.

Statement of N.A.M.C.O. managers:

The financial side of serving N.A.M.C.O. is handled in quite a number of different ways. About half of the firms charge a penny and more than one-third gives it free of charge.

The attitude of the juveniles to the price can be seen from the following tables.

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Statement of juveniles

The question asked was “What is charged for a cup of N.A.M.C.O., and do you think this is reasonable?”

Only 5 juveniles considered the price unreasonable.

The preparation and storing of N.A.M.C.O.

It is obvious that storing and preparation of the drink will influence considerably the taste of the drink and, therefore, the attitude of the consumer.

The preparation

Those who did not follow the instructions fully were asked how they prepared N.A.M.C.O..

On the whole it seems that the preparation of N.A.M.C.O. is satisfactory, that is to say if we can trust the statements of the N.A.M.C.O. preparer. Unfortunately it was not possible for the interviewer, in most cases, to watch the actual preparation.

The storage of N.A.M.C.O.

Storage was investigated from four angles. In what kind of container N.A.M.C.O. is kept, where the container is kept, for what other purposes the room is used and whether the room has direct or indirect ventilation.

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For which other purposes is room used where N.A.M.C.O. is stored

These rooms were ventilated in the following way:-

More Store rooms are badly ventilated than the other rooms

Where is container kept

N.A.M.C.O. was stored in the following places in the different rooms:-

Generally when N.A.M.C.O. is kept in the place of work it is deposited in all sorts of odd corners.

14 13

Kind of container in which N.A.M.C.O. is kept

The majority of firms keep N.A.M.C.O. in the original container. The different containers are distributed in the following way in the different rooms.

Shortcomings in supply

It was thought that managers might be deterred in their effort to distribute N.A.M.C.O. among their juveniles if the supply was not satisfactory. All N.A.M.C.O. managers were, therefore, asked whether the supply were satisfactory in quality and whether delivery were reasonably efficient.

The quality of supply

Supplies from the Co-op. and Fry seem to be less satisfactory than those from the other firms, though on the whole there are very few complaints.

The reasons for dissatisfaction are shown in the following table. As the figures are so small no percentages, but the absolute figures are given.

15 14

Efficiency of delivery

Cadbury’s seem least efficient in their deliveries. The main complaint is that the supply arrives irregularly or late.

Some effects of the N.A.M.C.O. publicity

It is always difficult to judge the success of a publicity compaign by the conscious effect it leaves in people’s memories, but such memories might provide a certain indication of its effectiveness.

N.A.M.C.O. managers were asked what made them start to serve N.A.M.C.O.

Juveniles were asked if they had heard about the possibility of having N.A.M.C.O. before they heard about it at work.

About half of the adolescents had heard of the possibility of having N.A.M.C.O. before it was actually mentioned at their own place of work.

Canteen managers were asked what they did to popularise N.A.M.C.O.

16 15

Steps undertaken to popularise N.A.M.C.O.

Over half of the firms had not undertaken any steps to popularise N.A.M.C.O.; their main reason being that it was already popular.

In interpreting this table one must bear in mind that the connotation of “Popularise” is elastic; one manager might reply that he had not popularised N.A.M.C.O. because he had not instituted a publicity campaign, but merely told the juveniles about it, a step which another manager describes as “Popularise”.