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“Why are there so many annoying adverts on TV?”
Of all the questions I get asked about the psychology behind advertising, this one definitely tops the list.
In this blog, we therefore take stock of the surprising effects of annoying adverts. What is the impact of irritation on the brand? Can annoying adverts achieve sales success? And if so, when?
We also delve into the data from the advertising database of the neuromarketing research agency Unravel Research. This contains practical conclusions based on brain data from hundreds of adverts. Are annoying adverts processed differently by our brains?
Annoying Adverts Explained
To make it easy, we have created a short explainer video of the key insights from this blog. You can watch it below.
The Psychology Behind Annoying Adverts
A few years ago, I wrote the blog ‘Annoying Adverts: Do They Work?’ for Unravel Behavior. In it, I summarised the key insights from a substantial stack of psychological papers on annoying adverts. Time for a brief recap.
Why do some advertisers still like to get on our nerves? This is because annoying adverts have one specific advantage: they stand out and therefore stick well. When you're an advertiser in need of attention, a touch of irritation quickly puts you back in the spotlight. This is because our brains respond much faster to negative information than positive; a genetic remnant from our ancestors who had to be constantly alert to danger. After all, there is little trace in our modern DNA of the hunter-gatherer who paid more attention to a fruit tree than to an approaching tiger.
For that attention advantage, however, the advertiser must make a sacrifice. Although the irritation factor keeps the viewer engaged, the negative emotion that accompanies it clings to the brand image. And that too sticks in our brains. In other words: irritation does grab attention, but subsequently results in a more aversive response to the brand in the long term.
Annoying Adverts: A Functional Matter
The crucial question, of course, is whether the added value of extra attention outweighs the eroding effect on brand image. This question has been extensively researched in brand and advertising studies. Psychologists have now discovered that a key role is played by the type of product: fun products versus functional products.
Fun Products Versus Functional Products
By far, most products are bought based on feelings. From soft drinks to clothing. From magazines to the ingredients for our dinner. They all end up in our shopping basket because they simply feel like a good choice. However, that positive feeling does not come out of nowhere, but is the result of years of effort that have gone into branding the products. The more often we see a brand in a positive context, the more positive the feeling that brand automatically evokes in our brains. This is the essence of advertising.
Annoying adverts prove disastrous for these emotion-driven adverts. Yes, they stand out, but the negative emotion ruthlessly saws into the carefully built brand value. Are you advertising an emotional product? If so, stay far away from using irritation as an advertising strategy.
With functional products, it's a bit different. These products are not bought based on feelings, but with a purpose. As a result, brand associations – positive or negative – weigh less heavily in the consumer's decision-making process. Few will enjoy buying a toilet cleaner or car insurance; they are functional 'musts'.
For this category of products, irritation can indeed lead to positive results. The reason is that the disadvantage of irritation – the creation of a negative brand association – is of secondary importance to the consumer. In this case, irritation only provides the attention advantage, without an adverse effect on brand preference.
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How Do Our Brains React to Annoying Adverts?
Behavioural data shows that irritation is only promising for products that fulfil a functional role. But to what extent can we also see this in brain activity? To find out, we took a look at the advertising database of Unravel Research. It includes hundreds of advertising campaigns from recent years. Each advert is labelled across various dimensions regarding message, category, and creative execution, including the use of irritation as a message strategy.
The graph above shows the standardised scores on desire for annoying adverts and regular adverts, each broken down into emotional and functional products. Desire is an indicator of positive emotion and approach motivation, which strongly correlates with actual effects on purchasing behaviour.
The brain activity aligns with predictions from behavioural research. We see that:
- Annoying adverts evoke less desire across the board than other advertising strategies
- The negative effect of irritation is significantly smaller for functional products than emotional products
In short: neuromarketing research on hundreds of adverts shows that annoying adverts have a detrimental effect, particularly for emotional purchases.
Learn More About the Psychology of Neuromarketing Behind Advertising
Irritation is just one of the many advertising strategies we can comment on with our brain data. Unravel Research regularly shares findings from our advertising database in our blogs. So if you enjoy following these insights, sign up to stay updated on our blogs.
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