Dogs for Doritos: A case of how emotions influence consumer behavior

Super Bowl Night 2016 was a parade of advertising’s best. In fact, the ads that tickled audiences the most continue garnering thousands of views on social network sites up to this writing. Strikingly, although not new in employing dogs in commercials, Doritos’ entry titled “No dogs allowed” for the 2016 Super Bowl, came a bit off to start with because Doritos is not a typical pet snack. Yet, science says this ad works.

The ad features three dogs incessantly attempting entry into a store to grab a pack of Doritos. Let me add these weren’t ordinary dogs. They were excessively adorable, ‘furfect’-looking, talented mutts that would not escape to charm audiences, young and old. After all, Doritos’s consumer base is around this age range.

So why does this seemingly incongruent mash up work? Aside from the commercial being hilarious, it also evokes a certain warmth towards the three dogs which had resorted to all sorts of tricks to gain entry into the store. Not to mention that the commercial had a happy ending with the dogs finally getting their much fought-for pack of Doritos.

Undoubtedly, the ad would generate positive emotions for most consumers. What is not immediately evident is that all these positive emotions toward the ad influences positive consumer attitude towards the brand.

Three mechanisms of how emotions influence consumer behavior are at play in the “No Dogs Allowed” commercial:

1.       Emotions induce action. Consumers experience emotions differently. Nevertheless, any type of neurological activation induces physiological changes.  These changes cause people to act out a specific behavior congruent to the emotion one is experiencing. Therefore, positive emotions then translate to positive behavior. It is this mechanism that induces consumer behavior. The most conspicuous emotion-induced behavior in response to the “No Dogs Allowed” ad is would be the amount of views which has reached 7.6 million since the Super Bowl night!

2.       Emotions as source material for judgment. In low risk situations or in cases in which major losses are not expected (such as choosing a snack), consumers tend to rely on their emotional experience when evaluating an ad or brand. Therefore, when an ad evokes positive emotions, the positivity rubs onto the advertising brand.

3.       Emotions increases persuasion. Consumers know ads will want to sell them something. However, emotionally-charged ads, particularly the emotions evoked through humor, enhances likability to the ad and the brand. Consequently, ad and brand likability are associated with favorable consumer behavior.

Use of emotions in advertising is a tricky matter, however; it’s certainly not a one-trick pony. Therefore, I will discuss the deleterious side effects of emotional advertising, in my next post.