In late 2022, Matthew Pittman and Eric Haley carried out three studies on Americans aged 18-65 to test how people in different situations react to ads differently.
The control group in each study was asked to just look at an ad. The second group had to memorize a nine-digit number and then look at an ad. The third group looked through their Instagram updates for 30 seconds before looking at an ad. The first study used an ad for a meal preparation service, the second was for ice cream and the third was for coffee beans. The ad photos and introductions were the same for everyone in each group, with only the number of likes being different. Participants may see an ad with a few hundred likes or tens of thousands of likes. After viewing the ad, each participant rated how willing they would be to buy the product. The group that used Instagram first was the most likely to want to buy the product when there were lots of likes.
In the second study, participants were asked why they wanted to buy the product and those in the control group gave simple, reasonable answers for their choice. “I was thinking of the taste of the ice cream and how delicious it would be.” Or “I like the ad. It’s simple and clean. It gets straight to the point.” However, most of those who had viewed social media content for 30 seconds gave answers that made no sense. For example, some gave one-word answers like “food” or “plate”. Researchers refer to this as “cognitive overload”.
Then the researchers further developed their study of the ad for coffee beans. And they discovered that those who often drank coffee carefully considered many factors, like the type of the beans and their country of production. So even when these people were in a mental fog, they were not convinced by ads with a large number of likes.
By understanding how they might be influenced by social media in unconscious ways, consumers can be more thoughtful and hopefully won’t buy a product they don’t need.
【小题1】What can be inferred from the three studies?| A．Social media greatly influences consumer behavior. |
| B．Ads for food are more popular than other types of ads. |
| C．People using social media choose more useful products. |
| D．Memorizing numbers has little effect on buying intentions. |
| A．New ideas come into mind quickly. |
| B．One’s attention can be easily directed. |
| C．One shows little interest in communication. |
| D．The brain has too much information to process. |
| A．Social media is a valuable advertising tool. |
| B．Product knowledge reduces the outside influence on buying. |
| C．Consumers with health concerns are careful about shopping. |
| D．People with a high quality of life hardly buy unnecessary things. |
| A．Focus on yourself: you can make good choices |
| B．Click on more ads to choose the most cost-effective goods |
| C．Keep up with the times to improve your shopping experience |
| D．Buy without thinking: you are being influenced by social media |
