Study concludes that chewing makes advertising ineffective

http://www.theguardian.com/science/2013/oct/13/eating-popcorn-cinema-advertisers

by shill • 13 years ago

76 37 13 years ago

theguardian.com

sarreph2• 13 years ago

This is hilarious. Well done, U of Cologne.

adamnemecek• 13 years ago

Expecting a "WPP acquires Wrigley" headline.

transfire• 13 years ago

If the theaters stop selling popcorn and candy they will not be able to stay in business as almost all their revenue comes from concessions --most of the ticket sale proceeds goes back to the movie makers.

Not to mention the fact that concessions are almost the only unique reason to go to a theater anymore.

alistairSH• 13 years ago

You go to the theater for the "unique" concessions? I guess stale nachos and overpriced M&Ms are "unique", but I'd debate if they're a reason to go to the movies. :)

_delirium• 13 years ago

Movie theatre popcorn is a guilty pleasure that microwave popcorn doesn't quite replicate...

smtddr• 13 years ago

Not THEE reason, but definitely those overpriced snacks are a huge income for them. Just like nightclubs and their $4 water bottles and $9 drinks.

Can't really go to a nightclub without drinking, can't really go to the movies without eating. I know some people do, but that's the very few minority. I remember when a nightclub I sometimes go to, http://1015.com/, was closed because their alcohol license expired by accident. I was shocked that they closed the whole place down, but after talking to co-workers they said "Yeah, the drinks are the cash. No overpriced drinks, no point in even doing business..."

I don't drink alcohol myself, I actually go to dance! ...by myself even!

kyro4• 13 years ago

I understand the implications here, but pre-chewed popcorn might not be that bad, especially considering how it won't leave kernels stuck in your teeth.

richforrester• 13 years ago

Or as much of a mess on the ground afterwards.

Liquid popcorn?

kyro4• 13 years ago

Liquid might be too unsettling. Pre-chewed would preserve that rough pulpy texture -- a familiarity that'll help customer adoption.

AmVess• 13 years ago

Microwave some butter. There's your liquid popcorn.

ganeumann• 13 years ago

Mechanical popcorn that forces your lips and tongue to simulate the names of the products being advertised, thus annulling the negative effect of chewing. Win-win.

sirsar• 13 years ago

What a wonderful popcorn advertisement!

carbocation2• 13 years ago

From the article, the study compared 48 people given free popcorn throughout the session to 48 people given one sugar cube at the beginning of the session. Those given the sugar cube demonstrated more positive responses to the advertised products.

The variables seem to be: (1) the substance of popcorn vs the substance of sugar cubes; (2) the quantity of stuff administered; (3) the duration over which someone got free stuff; (4) the overall caloric intake; (5) chewing vs non-chewing; (6) the degree to which the absorption times vary between sugar and popcorn.

Let me offer an alternative explanation: if you have nothing to do because your sugar cube dissolved and you're bored, you might pay more attention to the ads. If you're getting an unlimited supply of popcorn, that might be more entertaining to focus on than the ads.

At any rate, this study probably isn't testing what they think it's testing. It certainly doesn't demonstrate that the act of chewing has any causal relationship with their findings.

judk• 13 years ago

Your alternative explanation is awfully close to "chewing". Chewing is a mild distraction.

carbocation2• 13 years ago

My (main) point is that with so many uncontrolled variables, there are many alternative explanations that might have equal justification.

Of less importance (to me) is that my alternative explanation relies not on some physical act (chewing) somehow blocking brand awareness, but rather on the experience-seeking brain being idle or already-engaged when shown ads.

Again, with at least 6 uncontrolled variables, we could come up with dozens of things, from blood sugar trajectories to brain activity to chewing to smelling etc., all of which could be the actual trigger blocking brand awareness. I'm not partial to any one explanation given the paucity of data.

johnchristopher• 13 years ago

I'd add that playing with pop corn in the hand, feeling its texture, the smell and the small noise tend to steal the brain's focus from the ads. Indeed once the sugar is melted there is less to experience with the body.

jacalata• 13 years ago

Not close enough for them to make the argument that the result is because "chewing disrupts the subconscious mouth movement that cements the brand name in your mind".

Swizec• 13 years ago

Simpler.

The taste of sugar is perceived as positive. This puts you in a better mood. This makes you likelier to associate the ads with positive feelings. This in turn makes it likelier for you to react to ads because you associate those products with positive emotion.

btilly• 13 years ago

Brains are really good at association. Really bad at cause and effect.

If you want to prove this to yourself, take a date out on a roller coaster or bungee jumping. When your hearts are racing and you feel alive, look at each other. The association you form pretty much guarantees a positive date, even though the person you were with had nothing to do with the adrenaline rush.

kyro4• 13 years ago

Not to mention, the surge of glucose from eating the sugar cubes could've very well affected sentiment and responses. Daniel Kahneman talks about this in his book, specifically how groups given a chocolate bar in between tasks performed better than control groups, presumably due to the brain's dependence on glucose, and its fatigue in the lack thereof.

tgb2• 13 years ago

Recent evidence suggests that glucose depletion doesn't seem to affect the brain. For example, [1]. Moreover, the calorie consumption of the brain is basically constant regardless of what it is doing. I would hazard an untrained guess based off of these that the difference is in changes due to the body knowing of consumption of glucose versus any direct effect of the glucose itself. See also the study that athletes performed better after swishing a sweet drink in their mouth and spitting it out just as they did when actually drinking it.

[1] http://www.epjournal.net/wp-ontent/uploads/ep08244259.pdf

skndr• 13 years ago

Perhaps they could have given some people liquid smoothies and others more solid smoothies with chunks of fruit.

tlarkworthy• 13 years ago

Its easy to poke holes in any applied methodology. I could suggest the time of day wasn't consistent across groups, the seating position might introduce bias etc. But you have to start an investigation somewhere, and I think their methodology was a reasonable balance of practicality.

The work is tantalising evidence for something else going on. Which certainly warrents follow up work. Even if it was just the people were bored and not paying attention to ads, it still has consequences for the cinema business model.

tokenadult• 13 years ago

Thanks for submitting this news through a link to a professionally edited newspaper rather than through a press-release-recycling website. This preliminary study needs more replication, of course, just like most preliminary studies, but it has interested implications. I wonder what a study of the effectiveness of televised public service messages about not snacking while watching television would show.

Vektorweg• 13 years ago

Actually, The Guardian is recycling news. The Guardian gets his news probably from the Journal of Consumer Psychology, where it was press-released first.

See: http://www.portal.uni-koeln.de/nachricht+M5c21c8e0d26.html

vincie• 13 years ago

Here come the product names that sound like chewing and eating sounds. First up is gmumphroumroum.

kvee• 13 years ago

Are regular gum chewers more immune to advertising and the like or do they grow accustomed to it?

pattisapu• 13 years ago

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5eoSXpNZD9o

oyvindeh• 13 years ago

I wonder how this would affect learning in general. I.e. eating snacks while studying.

Study concludes that chewing makes advertising ineffective

Related Stories