Advertisements and the Brain

    An advertisement that sticks out to me is the 2021 Buick Envision car commercial. The commercial focuses on the different parts of a consumer’s life. It is relatable because someone’s car takes them to and from basically everything, they are involved in. People have different hobbies and interests that can be very different from each other. It uses the same actress dressed in work, workout, going out, and casual everyday attire. They all express their needs as the character they are dressed as, and the car is able to accommodate all of their different needs. This commercial ends by quoting “An SUV built around you, all of you”. This is impactful and shows that the car is very versatile for all your life consists of.

    Some aspects of the human nervous system that are primarily involved with this advertisement are specific. This ad, it evokes a feeling of being understood. The part of the brain that would be responsible for feeling understood would be the ventral striatum, middle insula, temporoparietal junction, and precuneus. These areas are associated with reward, social connection, and mentalizing (Morelli et al., 2014). People might feel like the ad was made for them. This ad can also bring up different emotions and feelings associated with the consumers' personal life, which can make the ad more memorable for them. This feeling of emotion would come from the limbic system. Overall, consumers can visualize themselves doing these things because they can relate to having a busy life like the main character and therefore be more inclined to purchase it so they can have a similar result to an easier life with a car built around them.

Advertisement Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hmIx_kyLW6U

References:

Morelli, S. A., Torre, J. B., & Eisenberger, N. I. (2014, December). The neural bases of feeling understood and not understood. Social cognitive and affective neuroscience. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4249470/.

YouTube. (2021). 2021 Buick Envision: Commercial Ad Tvc Iklan Tv Cf - United States. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hmIx_kyLW6U.