Chewing Pop Corn Could Save One From Adverts Brainwash -- New Study

As soon as you settle in to your cinema seat- with popcorn in one hand and drink in the other- you're bombarded with feature-length adverts. But, according to new research in Germany, that bowl of popcorn could be your best defence against being brainwashed by the advertising industry.

The research suggests that chewing popcorn actually makes you forget new brands that appear on the screen by disrupting something known as your 'inner speech'.The reason why adverts usually make an impression is because our lips and tongues automatically simulate the pronunciation of a new name when we first hear it.


But chewing can interrupt this inner speech making recollection of adverts less effective.
Just like tapping your finger or foot may distract you from accomplishing the same task, continual movements like chewing popcorn can also interfere with your short-term memory.

This research contradicts earlier studies that suggest chewing can in fact improve memory by increasing blood flow to the brain.

The study, at Cologne University, invited 96 people to watch a film and the preceding adverts at a cinema.

Half the test subjects were given popcorn, while the other half had a small sugar cube.

A week after the screening, the audience was asked to rate a range of products, some of which had been advertised.
The group who had a sugar cube rated the advertised products higher

The group who had a sugar cube rated the advertised products higher than those who had popcorn.

A further study invited 188 people to watch adverts, and they were then given money to donate to charity.

The sugar cube group tended to give more money to charities that had been advertised, while those who had popcorn showed no preference.

The researchers claim that ‘advertising might be futile under ecological situations involving oral interference, such as snacking or talking, which ironically is often the case.’

They suggest that in the future, popcorn may be replaced by something that requires less chewing to please advertisers.
Last year, similar research at Cardiff University found that people who chewed gum had a harder time recalling lists of letters and numbers than those who avoided the habit.
Source:Dailymail
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