The effect of advertising is starting to rumble in my house. My children, now aged 9 and 7, have finally been allowed to watch commercial television. It is illuminating to track the “I really want…” in light of this additional influence, the school playground having already nurtured desires of its own.

Recently my daughter explained that she ‘really wanted’ to buy some kind of squirting dinosaur toy. They sounded dreadful and I questioned whether they would really live up to her expectations: I also asked whether or not she might have been unduly influenced by the excited children that I assumed had been depicted in the advert.

To her credit she took little convincing that she might be wasting her money.

Such marketing influences aren’t always bad. Recently a group visited my children’s school to do a demonstration of skipping (or, as I believe American’s call it, jumping rope, which I confess sounds more athletic and less prance about in the playground!).

The children emerged from school full of excitement. Not only were the demonstrations amazing, the company sold ropes that change colour in sunlight: such wizardry is, evidently, thrilling to children. The clarion call of two children’s, “Pleaaaaase?” necessitated a visit to see what was on offer and, much to my surprise, the price was very reasonable. A satisfying amount of heart-rate-raising skipping has endured several weeks later.

A parent simply advocating that a child take up such a new hobby could not have created the same effect, of that I’m certain.

In psychological terms the issue is misattribution: numerous studies show that we have a tendency to take a feeling from a wider context and mistakenly attribute it to something we happen to be looking at. “Surely,” we conclude, “that item must be thrilling, because I’m feeling a thrill.”

It’s understandable, and it almost certainly happens far more than we’d ever like to admit to ourselves.

Recent research explored the role of televised sporting events on people’s perceptions of adverts.

The research discovered that misattribution occurs here too. More than one hundred people were asked to watch a collegiate basketball game on TV.

In one case the game people viewed was dramatic and full of suspense in another there was little drama, the result was clear-cut. After the game (and the adverts) had been shown, the participants rated the brands and adverts they’d seen.

The researchers found clear evidence that the level of suspense and excitement in the game was linked to people’s reactions to the advertised brands. Especially when the ads themselves had a lot of energy and excitement in them.

Interestingly, it didn’t make a difference whether a favoured team won or lost the match.

This research reflects a phenomenon that I call congruent misattribution: when a brand can associate itself with something that generates feelings that it would like to be associated with, provided that those attributes are in keeping with the way the brand is perceived and portrayed, they can benefit dramatically.

Of course, as a consumer (or a parent) it pays to be watchful: there’s a fine line between a positive misattribution experience and regretting a purchase when it’s viewed away from the exciting context in which it was encountered.

A quick audit of your children’s toys or items you have purchased in a sale but not used will probably illustrate this influence at work better than anything else.

Source: Oregon State University. “Sporting event ads viewed favorably, especially if the game is close.” ScienceDaily, 31 Jan. 2012. Web. 3 Apr. 2012

Image courtesy: Trey Ratcliff