MOR (1940s)

This is an advertisement from the 1940s promoting the Mor processed meat. To emphasize its product in the recipe - ‘Potato Ring Filled With Mor A La Golden Sauce’, the food was printed black and white with only the Mor meat printed red. However, this created a rather unappetizing meal in appearance, in which the Mor meat in red seem raw. Many viewers may find this disgusting.

A study in 2004 by Shimp and Stuart examined the role of disgust in the context of fast-food restaurant advertising. In one of the experiment, they created 2 versions of a 30 seconds television commercial and presented to participants in a between-subjects design. The control version was a straightforward advertisement that opened with instrumental music, a 3 seconds shot of the Kirby’s (made-up fast-food restaurant name) logo, a video cut to an appealing close-up of a large deli-type roast beef sandwich and ended with a slogan. In addition to the control (sandwich-only) version, the experimental (sandwich with raw roast) version incorporated with a shot of a raw beef roast. Participants viewed 4 commercials (in which 1 of them is either the control or experimental version) and while viewing each commercial, they tracked their emotional reactions on a standard warmth-monitor sheet of paper. The use of the warmth monitor requires an individual to track his or her emotional reactions by continuously moving a pencil down and across a sheet of paper through the course of the commercial. All participants also responded to a series of questions about the Kirby’s advertisement. The results showed that the experimental version with a roast beef sandwich portrayed contiguously to a shot of a raw beef roast was evaluated as more disgusting than an identical advertisement for the same sandwich, without the shot of the raw roast. Feelings of disgust also lessened intentions to eat at Kirby’s.

Shimp, T. A., & Stuart, E. W. (2004). The role of disgust as an emotional mediator of advertising effects. Journal of Advertising, 33(1), 43-53.