Are TV ads more effective if we pay less attention to them?

.

“There has been a lot of research which shows that creative TV ads are more effective than those which simply deliver information, and it has always been assumed that it is because viewers pay more attention to them.

“But in a relaxed situation like TV watching, attention tends to be used mainly as a defence mechanism. If an ad bombards us with new information, our natural response is to pay attention so we can counter-argue what it is telling us. On the other hand, if we feel we like and enjoy an ad, we tend to be more trustful of it and therefore we don’t feel we need to pay too much attention to it.

“The sting in the tail is that by paying less attention, we are less able to counter-argue what the ad is communicating. In effect we let our guard down and leave ourselves more open to the advertiser’s message.

“This has serious implications for certain categories of ads, particularly ads for products that can be harmful to our health, and products aimed at children.

“The findings suggest that if you don’t want an ad to affect you in this way, you should watch it more closely.”

Source

Maybe the best TV series ever. For a very insightful book on marketing, look at Purple Cow by Seth Godin.

Related posts:

Who watches TV ads?

Are ads with plus-size models effective?

Which language should you advertise to bilinguals in?

Does kicking someone in the balls improve viral advertising?

What sex in marketing really means

Does the size of that Gucci logo tell you something about the wearer?

Does being unfair to your customers make them more interested?

Do ads make TV better?

Is an attractive person touching an item enough to make you want to buy it?

Are we tricked by easy math when it comes to prices?

What Makes E-Commerce Websites Sticky?

Here‘s how babies in ads can manipulate our attention.

You should follow me on Twitter here. You can also subscribe to the blog’s feed or follow on Facebook. If you want to help support the blog, please do your Amazon shopping via this link. Here are the site’s most popular posts of all time.

Share

Subscribe to the newsletter