Yes, I should have noted that the study was for surrounding shows. And the reason might just be that people are so interested in the show that they become less interested in product advertisements. But it does suggest that the assumptions of advertisers are perhaps naive or vastly oversimplified.

I do think that we’ll start to see more intersection of advertising and cognitive science studies. For good or ill.

The problem is that we’re almost certainly wired to notice violence and sex. The former for the obvious reason that it relates to our well being and perhaps ones place in the pecking order; the latter for the obvious mating issues. (The recent studies about apes wanting to watch naked female apes as well as naked high status apes is interesting here) The obvious problem to advertisers is that if these are heightened cognitive states the very fact they are heightened may well affect how perceptions work. Thus the very fact of focus means that ones brain is paying attention to the attractive females rather than the beer being pushed, for instance.

I think advertisers in the past have simply seen the fact these affect interest and flocked to them. But interest and retention are two very different things. And what advertisers care about is retention.