The Influence of Music Over the General Public

SOURCE: The Pop History Dig

      The economic principle I’m exploring is “People generally respond to incentives in predictable ways”. My research question to help me study the economic principle is “What effect does music have over the general public?” The article published in The Visual Communication Guy Blog titled “Music Appeal(Advertising)” demonstrates this economic principle by showing that music attracts attention, makes people feel good, and increases product recall.


     First, catchy jingles are sometimes utilized in order to attract the attention of customers. A good example of this can be the Chili’s baby back ribs jingle, or the phone number for Luna. They’re to the beat of a happy tune that draws the viewers ear close to the screen.  In my personal experience, these have been very effective.  I can recite the Luna phone number by heart after hearing the jingle several times, which not only helps with product recall, but encourages happy feelings to be associated with the company.  At this point, I can't help but sing along when a Luna commercial pops on the screen.

     Second, advertisers choose to include upbeat and cheerful songs in their ads because they make people feel good watching them.  This technique can be helpful, because “when you use the Music Appeal, you make the music front and center of the ad, appealing to your target audience’s tastes in music and feel-good rhythms.” When people enjoy watching an advertisement, they associate good feeling with the product being advertised. This increases their likelihood of buying said product.

     Third, many advertisers use music to increase product recall because when a song is associated with a product people are more likely to remember it. This works for jingles as well. When that song or jingle is playing, people will immediately think of the advertised product.  With product recall, "the goal is to get your audience to remember it later, even if they’re not necessarily paying close attention to the product while watching or listening to the advertisements."
 
 In my next blog post I will research the question: What role does popular music play in modern day advertisements?