Background Music Influences Buying Decisions, Study Finds
From Times staff and wire reports
Background music can strongly influence buying decisions in supermarkets, a finding that lends new legitimacy to the largely discredited concept of subliminal advertising. Researchers from the University of Leicester in England set up flag-laden displays of four French wines and four virtually identical German wines in a supermarket, then alternated playing French and German background music over a period of two weeks.
On days when French music was played, the team reports today in the journal Nature, shoppers bought 40 bottles of French wine and only eight of German wine. On days when German music was played, however, shoppers bought only 12 bottles of French wine, compared to 22 bottles of German wine.