Shock Treatment
Shock value may grab attention, but it can put your company's image at risk. Science has a better way.
What's offensive marketing? Like pornography, it's hard to define, but we usually know it when we see it. In the race to grab audience attention, some advertisers are willing to cross the line into blatantly sexist or even racist imagery. Yet there is little evidence to suggest this tactic is actually effective.
The reward centers in the human brain are activated by food, sex, drugs, money and anything that feels pleasurable. A recent brain-imaging study at Massachusetts General Hospital found that the reward centers in the brains of young heterosexual males were activated by beautiful female faces. Dr. Nancy Etcoff, a leading author of the study, describes this as "a kind of visceral response to beauty." It's no wonder, then, that beautiful women are used to market everything from motorcyles to soft drinks.
Continue reading this article - and everything on Entrepreneur!
Become a member to get unlimited access and support the voices you want to hear more from. Get full access to Entrepreneur for just $5.
Entrepreneur Editors' Picks
-
These Co-Founders Are Using 'Quiet Confidence' to Flip the Script on Cutthroat Startup Culture and Make Their Mark on a $46 Billion Industry
-
My 7-Year-Old Daughter Started Selling Eggs. Here's What She Taught Me About Running a Startup.
-
Why You Need to Become an Inclusive Leader (and How to Do It)
-
Career Transitions You Can Make in Your 40s and 50s
-
Billionaire Naveen Jain Is an Expert at Disrupting Fields He Has No Experience In. His Secret Sauce for Building Multi-Million Dollar Companies? 'You Have to Come as Naive.'
-
4 Principles to Develop Next-Level Leadership at Your Company
-
This Filipino American Founder Is Disrupting the Beverage Aisle by Introducing New Flavors to the Crowded Bubbly Water Market