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Comment by edejong | Hacker News Reader

That’s exactly the intention. There should not be a conscious connection between the ads and the actions, because it would reduce the effectiveness.

Thing is, your brain does all the processing: it reads the label, it detects the colors and brands, it associates it with previous experiences and reinforces all these connections. Then, at the last moment it decides not to engage the neocortex, so you’re not consciously aware of it.

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I'll notice the look and feel and signifiers, but I go out of my way to avoid noticing the actual company name. After the ad is gone I'll sometimes try and recall the brand just to make sure that I can't. Usually I can't.

Does it matter though? Your brain will recognize it based on the look and the feel, isn't that enough when you're in a store?

Doesn't matter at all. If your eye can see it, it goes through the object detection process. Attention is not necessary. In particular, the brain associates it with all adjacent information.

For the scarce Youtube ad I get, I made it a habit to close one eye, focus next to the video, not see the ad, and only look at the 'skip'-button. What also comes in handy is having a hardware volume knob for my speakers; with one tactful twist of my fingers I turn the volume to zero. This way, I actively prevent ads from entering my brain. See no evil, hear no evil.

Doesn't that mean ads have shaped your behaviour in a much deeper way than just nudging you to buy a thing or two?

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