What's the Latest Development? In a new study, published in The
Journal of Consumer Research, 100 undergraduates were introduced
to a new fictional popcorn product. Some subjects viewed low-
imagery text ads, which described the snack's delicious taste.
Others watched a high-imagery commercial, in which happy people
enjoyed this popcorn in their living room. Some subjects were
then given samples of the product, some were not. One week
later, many subjects who had seen the image-heavy ad reported
having sampled the product when in fact they hadn't. What's the
Big Idea? Never mind that we find commercial interruptions
annoying, they are affecting how we recall our own lives. "The
scientists refer to this as the 'false experience effect,' since
the ads are slyly weaving fictional experiences into our very
real lives. 'Viewing the vivid advertisement created a false
memory of eating the popcorn, despite the fact that eating the
non-existent product would have been impossible,' write Priyali
Rajagopal and Nicole Mo