Monkey see, monkey do (Consumer see - Consumer buy)
September 7th, 2006
Newborn monkeys, like infant humans learn by imitation. Researchers at the University of Parma made faces at newborn macaques who then responded in kind. According to the biologists’ paper published online along with some amazing video in the freely-accessible Public Library of Science Biology (PLoS) journal, the experiments suggest that this kind of imitation with a purpose, as a form of social learning, is not limited to apes and humans as previously thought. Rather, it evolved more than 25 million years before the monkey ancestors diverged from the human lineage.
Implications? For us - this type of research proves again why advertising is so effective. Advertising invokes imitation, and just like the monkey sticking out his tounge - when individuals see something interesting a desire to mimic insues.
Is advertising simply way to socialize, to create a group think, to impart social norms?
Your thoughts?
Read more about the research
