‘Necro Advertising’ – the pros and cons [new study]

They are known, in advertising circles as ‘Delebs’ (deceased celebrities) . . . “Unbeknown to them, Marilyn Monroe, Audrey Hepburn, Steve McQueen and Gene Kelly, among others, recently presented products in ads for high- and low-equity brands.” A new paper in the Journal of Business Ethics describes experiments which have, for the first time, examined […]

Cigarettes That Are Visually Offputting (research study)

A number of countries have passed laws which require cigarette manufacturers to show ‘denormalising’ images on their packaging. To take things a step further, why not make the cigarettes themselves more unappealing? This was the question tackled by a joint Australian – New Zealand research team in 2015. A set of potentially unpleasant cigarette designs […]

TV commercial ‘zapping’ – its driving factors (study)

If you’re in the business of advertising – especially TV advertising – you might be keen to identify the driving factors behind so-called ‘zapping’ (viewers changing channels with the specific intent of avoiding commercial breaks) A 2017 study in the Journal of Advertising Research presents an extensive analysis of the subject and pinpoints a ‘significant […]

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