Food ads work better if all senses are involved: Study

Washington, July 21 (ANI): Almost all food ads mention the taste of the food being marketed, however, a new study shows that tapping into other senses rather than just 'taste' can actually increase consumers' perceptions.

Authors Ryan S. Elder and Aradhna Krishna (both University of Michigan) insist that advertisers are missing out if their ads only mention taste and ignore our other senses.

"Because taste is generated from multiple senses (smell, texture, sight, and sound), ads mentioning these senses will have a significant impact on taste over ads mentioning taste alone," wrote the authors.

During the study, the participants were randomly assigned to view one of two ads.

One ad was designed to appeal to multiple senses (for example, a tagline for a chewing gum read "stimulate your senses"), while the other ad mentioned taste alone ("long-lasting flavour").

"The multiple-sense ad led to more positive sensory thoughts, which then led to higher taste perception than the single-sense ad," the authors write.

"The differences in thoughts were shown to drive the differences in taste," they added.

The study appears in the Journal of Consumer Research. (ANI)