News Flash: Advertisers have Mind-Control Powers!
August 30th, 2007 by Dominic Canterbury
I’m sure you all saw this headline - Even carrots taste better at McDonald’s, kids say
This whole thing really pisses me off, but not for the reason you might think.
Evidently there was some scientific study looking at how branding influences kids’ perception of tastiness. And what do you suppose they found? They found that even carrots, milk and apple juice tasted better to the children when they came in a McDonalds wrapper.
According to Dr. Tom Robinson of Stanford University, author of the study, the children’s perception of taste was “physically altered by the branding.”
Egads! Advertisers controlling our children like marionettes, manipulating their very biochemistry for their own selfish gain!
Problem is, the study was absolute BULLSHIT. All they did was give some kids two trays of food - one with McDonalds food in the appropriate packaging and the other wrapped in plain paper. And the kids, of course preferred the pretty one.
WHAT THE HELL DID YOU EXPECT?
This study proves nothing more than the centuries-old fact that presentation is important. So f’ing what?
Bad research is nothing new, especially when it comes to marketing, but what really got my blood boiling was the journalistic response. Throwing basic critical faculties aside they practically tripped over themselves to sound the alarm about the mystical powers of Madison Avenue.
In our society we have this ridiculous mythology about the power of advertising. Everyone from advertisers to journalists to scientists to ordinary citizens seems to want it to be true. But it’s not.
As I’ve mentioned before, advertisers avoid measurement like the plague. And for good reason. because the closer you look the more you realize how truly impotent they are.
Are you really arguing that the food in McDonalds wrapper was perceived as better-tasting because the wrappers were prettier, and that the brand had no impact whatsoever?
Presentation and branding aren’t the same thing.
You haven’t supported your point here at all.
Hi John,
Good question.
My point was that the study, as it was designed, could in no way draw any conclusions about the power of branding.
I mean, for chrissake, they had kids choose between fully branded packaging and plain paper. Plain paper? That’s a mood killer right there. Perhaps a more sensible conclusion is that plain paper makes food less appetizing. No big news there either.
If, on the other hand, the researchers paired two fully-branded trays of food — one for McDonalds and one for a made-up brand — then we they could actually draw some sensible conclusions.
My other point is that this study is reflective of the quality of marketing studies out there.
I ask you, where is the evidence to support the power of brands? Where is the evidence to support the power of advertising? For an industry responsible for spending about $200 billion per year you’d think there would be something substantive.
[…] Some of you may recall a post I wrote a while back on this very same subject. Well, here’s more evidence that the marketer’s dream of mind control is alive and twitching. […]