When the Bic brand applied its name to women's underwear, consisting of a line of 'disposable pantyhose', they were unable to attract customers. Okay, so the disposability element was still there. But that was about it. Consumers were unable to see any link between Bic's other products and underwear, because of course there was no link.

The main problem was that the company insisted on using the Bic name. As marketing writer Al Ries has observed, using the same name in unrelated categories can create difficulties. "If you have a powerful perception for one class of product, it becomes almost impossible to extend that perception to a different class," he argues.

In 1970 he ran an ad for Silva Thins Cigarettes that read “Cigarettes are like girls, the best ones are thin and rich”. The National Organization for Women was outraged and started a boycott of the brand in response. In an equally controversial move, Free published an ad in 1971 for National Airlines that read “I’m Cheryl – Fly Me”, with an attractive young stewardess pictured. The National Organization for Women was once again up in arms over a Free creation and picketed outside his office in retaliation. Despite the protests National saw a huge increase in sales and decided to keep Free on the account. So, in 1972 he published more ads of the same theme, including another one with ‘Cheryl’, which now read “Millions of people flew me last year.” Despite their mixed reviews, Free’s ads proved effective in reaching the target and in attracting the nation’s attention.

Taking a hypothetical issue, such as a man and woman deciding whether or not to go out to dinner, information is fed into the panels. One represents the man; the other, the woman.

Each subject uses dials that represent four areas — compliance with society, attention to own desire, social pressure and personal inclination. The personal inclination and social pressure gauges are intricately detailed to show adamant 'yes' or 'no' responses, or degrees such as strong preference, or very much or some.

Attention to desire is measured in readings of low, medium and high, as is compliance with society.

As the subjects feed this information into the panels, other gauges measure tension, feelings, guilt or pride, emotional independence, like and dislike, and influence, based on each decision.

The machine does the thinking, lights a decision of 'yes' or 'no' and tells the subjects their emotional responses....

In a marriage situation, Hollander said the device could show the individuals why something is going wrong in the relationship if arguments are portrayed and feelings defined.

"I wanted to pick out the ambiguities of the woman/man relationship," he pointed out.

The decision voltage output of the man-simulator is connected to the threshold detector of the woman-simulator via a sense port. Similarly, the woman-simulator has a decision voltage output port connected to a sense port and input to the level threshold detector of the man-simulator. A switch interrupts each output so that the effect of relationship can be shown. By adjustment and interpretation of the dial settings and decision indications, paradoxes and problems in man-woman relationships are demonstrated.