Over the first half of the 20th century housewives became one of the largest target markets for American advertisers, and Dichter and The Institute conducted thousands of interviews in order to understand this complex social group. Nowhere was this relationship more clear than in the promotion and marketing of household goods, which feature regularly in the resource. Furniture, soft furnishings and household appliances make up the majority of this category, and these studies sought to understand the relationship between consumer goods and a customer’s own personal space. These include the Creative memorandum on the psychology of furniture and A motivational research study of the sales and advertising problems of nylon bed sheets.

Many of the campaigns also focused on the homemaker’s own self-image and feelings of guilt when deciding to purchase various products for the home. Advertisers and manufacturers used this knowledge to determine how particular goods should be packaged and promoted, as well as to understand the future growth of the sector. For example see: A motivational research study to determine new household product possibilities, which examined this issue.