From website banners to scratch-and-sniff magazine spreads, you’ve probably been the target of thousands of ads. Like, you’re even going to hear one during this podcast—we gotta eat! At this point, you might feel like you’re immune to advertising, because there’s no way a ridiculous infomercial could make you want a reusable juice box. But the psychology behind advertising has always been powerful. So this week, we’re diving into the science of when ads work, when they don’t, and when they’ve led to some pretty serious problems like the opioid epidemic.

Sources:

[Truth or Fail]

https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0956797613502732

https://academic.oup.com/jcr/article-abstract/44/4/877/3829544?redirectedFrom=fulltext

https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2016-03/uom-ita031116.php

[Fact Off]

Brand partnerships:

Opioid epidemic:

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/how-advertising-shaped-first-opioid-epidemic-180968444/

https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMp1508818

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5125194/

[Ask the Science Couch]

https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2017-05/uoia-scs051817.php

http://www.nber.org/papers/w20171.pdf

https://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2014/06/a-dangerous-question-does-internet-advertising-work-at-all/372704/

https://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2011/08/why-good-advertising-works-even-when-you-think-it-doesnt/244252/

[Butt One More Thing]

https://thequackdoctor.com/index.php/dr-youngs-rectal-dilators/