![\"\"](\"http:\/\/therapytoronto.ca\/images\/blogpics\/Disgust.jpg\" "\\"disgust\\"")
We\u2019ve all seen the ads meant to scare us into buying products like protective sunscreen or to avoid doing something like drugs. Well, it turns out those advertisements may only freeze us with fear and inaction. New research from the W. P. Carey School of Business at Arizona State University shows, in order to work best, these ads also have to disgust and gross us out.<\/p>\n
\u201cFear creates uncertainty and insecurity over what to do, but disgust gives us a very strong impulse to avoid and distance ourselves from the item or situation as quickly as possible<\/strong>,\u201d explains Andrea Morales, W. P. Carey School of Business marketing professor, lead author of the work. \u201cWhen you add a disgusting message or image to an advertisement, it can significantly increase the ad\u2019s effectiveness.\u201d<\/p>\n The new research from Morales and her colleagues was just posted online by the <\/em>Journal of Marketing Research. It points to successful, disgusting campaigns, such as one by the New York City Department of Health that centered on images of soda turning into gobs of fat. Department officials say sugar-rich beverage consumption in the area dropped by 12 percent after the campaign. Other popular advertisements in the disgusting category include a medication ad with a creepy yellow rat-like creature attacking a human toenail, a pain-medication ad featuring a pair of feet covered in fire ants, and an anti-smoking matchbook with graphic images of decayed, blackened teeth.<\/p>\n \u201cDisgust dramatically enhances persuasion and compliance above and beyond just fear appeals<\/strong>,\u201d says Morales. \u201cYou have to go beyond scare tactics to produce a strong and immediate avoidance reaction or a change in behavior. For example, disgust is especially good at motivating people toward losing weight, quitting smoking or changing another behavior to improve their health.\u201d<\/p>\n In particular, the research discusses a real ad campaign in Britain that showed graphic images linking cigarettes with fat-filled arteries. The 2004 campaign by the British Heart Foundation and the local Department of Health was so successful that the United Kingdom\u2019s government is planning to print these pictorial-warning images on all tobacco products sold in the U.K.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019ve also seen several recent ads for cleaning products that disgust viewers by talking about and showing the dirt, grime and germs left behind when you use other, less effective mops, cleansers, even toothpaste,\u201d says Morales. \u201cA new series of Febreze commercials shows people in filthy rooms, but smelling pleasant odors thanks to the spray.\u201d<\/p>\n In a series of five experiments, the researchers repeatedly found the same thing. When people looked at ads with neutral messages or those simply meant to induce fear, they didn\u2019t work as well as those using disgust.<\/p>\n For example, 155 undergraduate students looked at various versions of a real anti-meth ad with the same words and format, but different, altered images. The version with a teen whose face was covered in open sores was found to be much more effective than the versions with a picture of a coffin or two teens sitting side by side. The coffin, while scary, didn\u2019t portray an immediate, imminent, disgusting threat.<\/p>\n Another experiment involved showing participants a sunscreen ad with identical images, but different text in each case. The most persuasive version talked about \u201copen sores that crust and do not heal for weeks,\u201d \u201cscaly red patches\u201d and \u201cwart-like growths that ooze and bleed.\u201d The reaction to it was far more significant than a neutral ad version and one that simply talked about \u201ca severe sunburn\u201d and the \u201cpossibility of heat stroke.\u201d<\/p>\n Morales\u2019 co-authors are Eugenia Wu, assistant professor at Cornell University and Gavan Fitzsimons, professor at Duke University. The full write-up called \u201cHow Disgust Enhances the Effectiveness of Fear Appeals,\u201d is available at the Journal of Marketing Research website at http:\/\/www.journals.marketingpower.com\/doi\/abs\/10.1509\/jmr.07.0364.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" From the Arizona State University press release: We\u2019ve all seen the ads meant to scare us into buying products like protective sunscreen or to avoid doing something like drugs. Well,… Read more »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[5],"tags":[153,192,96,154,364,12],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/therapytoronto.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1683"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/therapytoronto.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/therapytoronto.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/therapytoronto.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/therapytoronto.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1683"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/therapytoronto.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1683\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1684,"href":"https:\/\/therapytoronto.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1683\/revisions\/1684"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/therapytoronto.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1683"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/therapytoronto.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1683"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/therapytoronto.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1683"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}