The Palm Beach Post did a great piece on some new literature about the frequency of junk food product placements in films.
A new study by Lisa Sutherland, assistant professor of pediatrics at Dartmouth Medical School, reveals the incredible amount of product placement occurring in popular movies.
138 of 200 films analyzed had some kind of product placement – food or beverage – most of it, what we could consider “junk food.”
How many products can we fit into one "placement?"
The problem with this is that the more we are exposed to a stimulus, the more likely we are to accept that stimulus as normal.
A lot of studies have shown dishabituation in people after being presented to stimuli a certain number of times. That is, they cease to notice the stimulus as being novel. Most of those studies have stopped there. Yes, you cease to notice the thing. But what does that mean with regard to how you treat it?
How do you treat something you don’t notice?
The fact is, we treat things we don’t notice as being non-threatening…as being “normal.” When we notice something, we say it is “unusual” or “out of the ordinary.” It is not “normal.”
Advertising achieves a few things at once. First, it exposes you to a novel stimulus, and presents that stimulus as something desirable (for good or bad reasons) and as being socially acceptable or creating a certain social status.
Then, it continues to pummel you with the messaging, till you aren’t even aware of it. For instance, if you watched TV last night, try to name ten commercials that you saw. Specifically – what were they about, what were they selling, how were they trying to convince you to buy?
It’s a hard game to play.
Finally, every now and then the advertiser tweaks the message. You receive a new stimulus. Your “desire-reaction” grows.
Tweak the message
Children may be more susceptible to this type of messaging than adults, having not fully developed their “executive control” functions (though whether or not many adults have fully developed this is questionable as well…).
