Looking at the Brain

The pursuit of more persuasive advertising has recently attracted the interest of the scientific community. Yet most of this research resorts to self-report studies that are inaccurate when measuring sensitive information and unconscious reactions. There is therefore a growing interest in applying more objective systems such as tools from the field of neuroscience. This chapter aims to outline the brain mechanisms that underlie consumer processing of words and messages in advertising. Since brain activation can reflect the impact of a specific message on consumer attention and persuasion, the study summarizes the neural effects—as well as the behavioral consequences—of the main types of messages explored in the recent consumer neuroscience research, namely gain/loss-framed, political, deceptive, subliminal and brand-related messages. Based on the results, this study attempts to objectively determine which advertising elements are processed as more persuasive, and therefore which are more useful in the design of successful advertising campaigns.