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Ads Can 'Seduce' the Brain?

By: Dwayne W. Waite Jr.

It continues to mystify why researchers and physicians give so much power to advertising, and so little power to the consumer. According to a report that will be published — yes, published — in the Journal of Neuroscience, Psychology and Economics (thankfully only the online edition), a researcher from UCLA concludes that based on his research advertisers wish more to seduce than to persuade when communicating with consumers.

Dr. Cook explains that there are two main ways advertisers communicate: logical persuasion and non-rational influence. Logical persuasion (LP) is, pretty much exactly how it sounds — a commercial or campaign that focuses solely on facts and information. Non-rational influence (NI), is the persuasion technique advertisers use to match seemingly unrelated things together in order for the consumer to associate a positive emotion or stimuli to an object or service they normally wouldn't (i.e. See car. Car okay. See woman in bikini. Woman good. See woman on car. Car good).

His experiment included showing 24 ads (of the LP and NI nature) to 24 people; men and women whom he considered healthy. He and his colleagues found that the ads with the NI focus showed lower levels of activity in parts of the brain that focused on logic and reason. And since that was the case, Dr. Cook concludes that ads with NI focus attempts to bypass the logical processes of the consumer, and therefore seduce the consumer into buying the offered good.

Give me a break.

Advertisers are trying to seduce, not persuade? Why are these science "professionals" trying to find excuses for consumers who buy on impluse? To imply such folly assumes that immediately after the ad, the consumer attempts no further retrieval of information on that good or service. Consumers no longer have "free will" because the evil genius of advertising manipulates the actions of pea-brained humans. Of course, hypo-consumption, greed, hoarding, is all because of advertising.

Maybe I'm being too harsh on the study, and I'm not giving advertising its due. Perhaps the average consumer is totally susceptible to advertising, and I'm giving the consumer way too much credit for being intelligent and informed.

Thoughts?

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About the Author

Dwayne W. Waite Jr. is partner and principal at JDW: The Charlotte Agency, a marketing and advertising shop in Charlotte, NC. He enjoys consumer behavior, economics, and football.

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