Those Pesky Fitness Advertisements!

Most of us hate seeing ads which remind us of the need to exercise more. They are prevalent, and, if they really work, one might say they’re a good thing. But a new study has provided a surprising result. Looking at such ads may make people eat more, according to the results reported in the journal Obesity.

Fifty-three college students were enrolled in this study. They were asked to look at posters for an exercise campaign, and, then at a group of posters that were similar but didn’t specifically mention exercise. After each viewing the participants were given a small dish of raisins, which they had to rate for taste.

After viewing the exercise posters the students ate an average of 18 calories-worth of raisins. After the posters without-mention-of-exercise they ate only the equivalent of 12 calories. It looks from this experiment that the mention of exercise increased appetite in the viewers.

In a second study, 51 students (different from those in the first study) were told they were going to participate in a study of hand-eye coordination. Half of them were exposed to action words like “go” or “active” – typically used in exercise ads; the other half were exposed to neutral words (e.g. “pear” or “moon”). This study tested the subliminal effects of these words. Those participants in the action-word group ate more raisins than those shown the neutral words.

I’m happy to report that these findings show conclusively (?) that the use of action words like “get up and go” or “get exercising” have the opposite to the desired effect on appetite – viewers eat more! Pass the popcorn!