When it comes to emotions, you’re probably a big fan of happiness and joy. I mean, who doesn’t get tickled over those warm and fuzzy feelings (unless you’re a frowning loner who’s into kicking puppies). Hey, you may even “enjoy” getting a little scared or sad sometimes, especially when you pop that favorite thriller or tear-jerker in the DVD player.
But keep your eyes open, for there’s a new emotional king of the hill when it comes to getting people to do what you want them to. It’s that ungainly and ugly stepchild of the emotion kingdom: Disgust.
A new five-year study by Arizona State University’s W.P. Carey School of Business tells us that disgust is getting it’s turn. (and not just of your stomach). If you want to sway people, researchers say, you need to show them totally gross stuff. And as counterintuitive as that may seem, it’s been working.
For instance, the New York City Department of Health created an ad that showed a soft drink transforming into globs of fat as some poor sap gulped it down (according to USA Today). Department officials gleefully reported that the ad prompted a 12% drop in sugary soda consumption. And you probably have seen the recent Febreze commercials that feature blindfolded folks being led by their noses over piles of rotting muck—which, of course, the smellers can’t smell thanks to the deodorizer’s fabulous sweet-scented properties.
In another example, 155 undergraduates at Arizona State University were shown pictures being considered for an anti-methamphetamine campaign. The photo featuring a teen whose face is covered with open sores (thanks to the drug’s life-ruining impact) scored markedly higher than one featuring a simple coffin.
“It was always the other emotion,” Paul Rozin a psychologist and pioneer of modern disgust research told The New York Times. “Now it’s hot.” He and many like him are part of a group of scientists, researchers and authors who are putting out a steady stream of new books and papers on the subject. “It is becoming a model emotion,” said Jonathan Haidt of the University of Virginia, Dr. Rozin’s fellow disgust pioneer.
It seems as plain as the offended nose on your face: The grosser things get, the more the experts think it will move you to get up and take action. To buy or not to buy. So expect to see a lot more repugnant, disgusting stuff in commercials and ads. And here you thought that the two-month-old milk in your refrigerator was just a gag-worthy mess. Little did you know that it was the stuff of change.
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