Curious About Science 科學好好玩：An Interesting Research About Eating Popcorn When Watching Ads

相信大家都有去電影院買桶爆米花邊吃邊看的經驗吧～

電影播放前通常會有十到十五分鐘的「廣告」時間。

（雖然台灣的電影院廣告時間好像有點宣導政策的取向）

這篇探討一個有趣的想法：一邊看一邊吃爆米花似乎會讓觀眾們比較不受廣告影響？

換句話說，廣告的行銷手法遇到爆米花就失效了...??  

*be immune to: 對...免疫

Eating Popcorn 
Makes Movie-goers immune to Ads
By Breanna Draxler | October 14, 2013 

Popcorn and movies are inextricably linked分不開的、脫離不了關係的—like cotton candy and county fairs, or coffee and the morning commute. Equally ubiquitous in theaters is the reel of reel 本來是指捲軸，這裡引申像捲軸一樣一直轉呀轉的播放廣告advertisements that show before the film.

說到爆米花總會想到看電影，就像在美國的郡農產品交易會(就像電影Some Pig 一樣，county fair 是一種定期在美國不同郡選出最好的農產品或家禽，然後會有一些吃的玩的，有點類似園遊會的感覺)上一定會看到棉花糖、早上通勤時一定要來杯咖啡一樣。電影播出前會不停播送著廣告。

New research suggests the two are at odds不一致: popcorn actually makes advertisements ineffective.

有研究卻指出邊吃爆米花看電影時其實削弱了廣告的功能

Researchers in Germany sent 96 people to the cinema. Some of the movie-goers got free popcorn (score!) while the others were given a sugar cube (for real?!). Before the film, participants watched advertisements for unfamiliar products—things like Scandinavian butter.

這項在德國進行的研究，將96個受試著帶進電影院，給其中一批人免費爆米花（耶！）然後另一批人拿到的是方糖（傻眼）。電影開始前，讓這些人看一些不是很popular的產品廣告。

When the researchers brought participants back into the lab a week later and asked them to rate various products (those advertised at the theater among them), the sugar-cubers showed a preference for 就是prefer的意思the advertised products whereas popcorners did not.

一週後，領到方糖的人比那些邊看電影邊津津有味嚼著爆米花的人，更喜歡那些廣告商品（大概是因為方糖太甜了不能一口接一口吃?）

Munching and Memory

Apparently the munching gets in the way of 阻卻，影響 our memory很明顯可以發現一邊嚼食影響了人的記憶. Brand names simply didn’t stick for snackers, due to what researchers call “oral interference.”  As The Guardian describes ...

''The reason why adverts manage to imprint brand names on our brains is that our lips and the tongue automatically simulate the pronunciation of a new name when we first hear it. Every time we re-encounter the name, our mouth subconsciously practises its pronunciation…This “inner speech” can be disturbed by chewing, rendering the repetition effect redundant''

廣告商總是特別強調商品名稱。因為當人們初次聽到一個名字時，會下意識地發音、或默念這個名字，這個動作有助我們記憶。但是人們一邊在吃東西的時候，嘴巴忙著嚼食，會干擾這個「默念」的動作。

So for the time being, take your pick at the cinema: buy the pricey popcorn, or be swayed into spending that money later.


英文內容來源reference: http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/d-brief/2013/10/14/eating-popcorn-makes-movie-goers-immune-to-ads/#.Uth_NqBX9D1