Whether it’s a hungry child in a war zone or a polar bear on a shrinking raft of ice, we’re all familiar with shocking images in advertising. Companies use them to confront us with difficult emotions or go against societal norms as a means of grabbing our attention. Dettol, for example, once created an advertisement for its hygiene products that depicted a bloodied hand in front of the body of a man with a knife through his chest, alongside the words “When ordinary soap just won’t do”.
Such techniques are known as “shockvertising”, and there is no shortage of examples. In a recent paper, we explore the subtle ways in which powerful negative images influence consumers. The objective is often to grab attention and battle through the advertising clutter, and while such images get our attention, the effects might be more nuanced than marketers realise.
To date, research into the phenomenon has mostly focused on whether or not it works. In an attention-fuelled marketing landscape, using shock to force consumers to notice campaigns – acting like a kind of override switch – might be an appealing idea. But there could be a lot more to it than meets the eye.
