Comments on: Memory Versus Advertising: McDonald’s Wrappers

By: zot

zot — Sat, 25 Aug 2007 21:59:54 +0000

Lazy man: I think you are right. I was trying to expand beyond the study of just McDonald’s food to focus more on whether experiential memory is a stronger factor than visual advertising.

Ioana: I like your idea too, but am thinking more along the lines of setting up competing influences: experiential memory on the one hand and advertising on the other. I’m willing to bet that experience is a much stronger factor.

Thanks you both for your comments!

By: ioana

ioana — Sat, 25 Aug 2007 04:08:21 +0000

You’d be hard pressed to find enough children who never ate MacD’s before. And once you do, it would be easy to question whether they really are a representative population sample… Since the study dealt with children, they most likely associate MacDonald’s -and their wrappers- with happy meals. Giving them store-bought food in a purple bowl along with a new toy would probably have the same effect. After doing this a couple of times, purple bowls should produce the same Pavlov’s effect. Or at least it would be worth looking into.

By: Lazy Man

Lazy Man — Fri, 24 Aug 2007 02:36:29 +0000

Rather than cause people pain, I’d be curious to know if people with no previous McDonald’s experience thought the food was tastier. Since they’d have nothing to previously compare it’s a better test.

Perhaps the McDonalds’ wrappers are just like a placebo effect.