Insights:Science Says Ads Make Us Happy!

A new empirical study, authored by David A. Griffith of Texas A&M University and other
professors from other respected universities found advertising makes people happy!

Perhaps surprisingly, they’re not just talking about marketing directors who saw sales
spike after their ads ran or creatives who just won a major award. Their study includes
regular folks (who probably complain about ads on occasion). Another positive finding, for
the marketing industry, was as ad budget goes up, the happiness level of people also goes
up. Win, win!

To be fair, Professor Griffith’s snappily titled “Understanding the Relationship Between
Advertising Spending and Happiness at the Country Level” contains a lot of caveats and
socioeconomic parameters to make their case, but they are challenging a study published in
the Harvard Business Review that stated a negative relationship between advertising and
happiness. Griffith points out that the Harvard study lacked certain controls and the
exclusion of institutional factors. We might even add that they were probably a bunch of
party poopers, too.

The bottom line of the study is that advertising provides important information that allows
consumers to choose products that enhance their lives and thus lead to a higher degree of
happiness. Sounds like a good selling point to us.

So if you’re feeling blue, watch a commercial and smile. If you want to be happy all the time,
give the marketing experts at Insight a call at 605-275-0011 or send us an email and we’ll
help you spread joy across the land while growing your bottom line.