FKF Applied Research and the UCLA Ahmanson Lovelace Brain
Mapping Center have released their Second Annual Ranking of the most effective
Super Bowl ads using fMRI (functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging) brain
imaging. Many of the Super Bowl ads stoked regions of the brain associated with
anxiety, including the amygdala.
Compared to last year's ads there was much more anxiety, and
far less positive emotion in these highly touted commercials. “This clearly was
the year of the amygdala, the brain's 'threat detector,” said Dr. Joshua
Freedman, UCLA Clinical Assistant Professor of Psychiatry and a co-founder of
FKF Applied Research. “Much of the anxiety seemed caused by violence, but was
also rooted in economic fears. The Nationwide ad had a spike when Kevin
Federline was revealed to be working in fast food, and also when the GM
robot turned out to be OK but afraid for its job.”
FKF Applied Research and Dr. Marco Iacoboni's group at the
UCLA Ahmanson Lovelace Brain Mapping Center recruited men and women ages 18-34
to watch this year's Super Bowl ads. The subjects viewed the ads while in
UCLA's high-field fMRI scanner, which monitors the activity in their
brains.
The best testing advertisements, such as the minute-long GTA-spoof ad for Coca Cola, fired
the region of consumers' brains associated with positive emotions. Other top
ranked ads include “Live
the Flavor” for Doritos and “Hitchhiker”
for Bud Light.
The bottom ranked ads were for Emerald
Nuts, Honda’s
new CR-V and Sprint’s
Connectile Dysfunction.
FKF and UCLA's empirical approach measures activity in
regions of the brain known to help control whether a consumer will buy or
reject a marketer’s sales pitch. The fMRI used by FKF and UCLA displays
activity in parts of the brain responsible for elemental responses, including
wanting, reward, surprise, fear, disgust, conflict, and attempts to control
emotions. The fMRI technology was also recently featured in a study that
examined the brain’s
activity while playing violent and non-violent video games.
“Asking someone what is going on in their brain is in some
ways like asking them what is going on in their heart,” said Dr. Freedman. “Much
of the important activity is outside of their awareness. Coke's ad did well
because it engaged a full range of emotions, including the mirror region, which
is associated with connection and empathy. Typically, between one-third and one-half
of ads are filtered out and are essentially ignored by viewers' brains. Usually
the Super Bowl ads do somewhat better, but not this year. The majority elicited
very little response.”
