Jim Guinee wrote:
> Has anyone seen the new 7up commercials?
>
> There are at least two that have been shown in my area. In both, a nicely
> dressed African-American man is touting 7 up:
>
> 1) One is a taste test, where he has people taste the "alternative beverage,"
> that alternative usually being something really gross (e.g., sour milk).
>
> 2) In the other, he whips a 7up can and commands a cute little doggie to
> "fetch." The dog chases down the can, gets under it, and gets whomped on
> the noggin. At the end of the commercial, the dude is picking up the can
> and the dog is upside down, all four legs in the air. He may not be dead, but
> he looks like it.
>
> Doesn't this seem like a really bad use of classical conditioning? I would
> think viewers might connect 7up to being nauseated (taste test) and
> being distressed (puppy).
Well - the whole thing is vicarious. Though Pavlov did distinguish the first
signal system (CC) from the second (language).
>
> If I was teaching gen psych, I'd be curious as to how students would evaluate
> these commercials as good/bad examples of CC.
>
I say the sour milk one, and I thought it was in poor taste, terrible,
manipulative, and stupid. But, they work. Many man/woman hours of work goes into
their creation, piloting, etc. They are designed to work. Academic psychologists
can probably pick up a few hints on human behavior/nature from them. I'm sure they
would LOVE to hear a college class is having a lengthy discussion about this
commercial. Play the commerical a few times in class, have a lengthy discussion
about whether 7 up really does taste better, maybe a little taste testing,
etcetera (Keep 7UP on their brain's radar screen a little longer).
Blame J.B. Watson for introduction of these techniques into advertising. He also
pioneered the use of celebrity endorsements. Somehow he convinced Princess Anne
(was it Anne?) of Romania to do a soap commerial - and the rest is history (as
they say!).
--
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John W. Kulig [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Department of Psychology http://oz.plymouth.edu/~kulig
Plymouth State College tel: (603) 535-2468
Plymouth NH USA 03264 fax: (603) 535-2412
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"What a man often sees he does not wonder at, although he knows
not why it happens; if something occurs which he has not seen before,
he thinks it is a marvel" - Cicero.
