Psychology
Liking
We say yes to people we like, and we like people who seem warm, genuine, attractive or similar to us, so likeable faces sell.
2020s
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2021Lu from Magalu
Gives an online shop a friendly face who dances to trends, explains technology and speaks up on causes, and people warm to a personality far more than to a retailer.
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2020Groundhog Day
Bill Murray, in what he says was his first commercial, plays Phil Connors once more, and viewers' affection for him made the Gladiator easy to warm to.
2010s
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2016The Swedish Number
Puts ordinary volunteers on the line to chat about anything, and they came across as genuine in a way no tourism claim could, so callers warmed to Sweden.
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2012Our Blades Are F***ing Great
Michael Dubin's deadpan, straight-talking tour feels like a funny friend talking rather than a corporation, and people warm to someone that unpolished.
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Curators of Sweden (@sweden)VisitSweden and the Swedish Institute2011
Curators of Sweden (@sweden)
Hands the account to a different ordinary Swede each week, and followers warm to real, unpolished people far more than to an official voice.
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2010The Man Your Man Could Smell Like
One charismatic performer carries the spot alone, then answers fans in nearly 200 personalised replies, and people warm to someone who seems to talk back.
2000s
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2009ZooZoos
Makes giggling, egg-headed creatures who fall in love so endearing that viewers grew fond of them and, through them, of Vodafone.
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2008The Great Schlep
Sends grandchildren to make the case in person, because grandparents listen to the people they love far more readily than to any political ad.
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2007The Shirato Family (White Family)
Builds a family of oddballs led by a lecturing dog father, characters viewers grew fond enough of to top a likeability survey, giving a newcomer brand a warm face.
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2006Will It Blend?
Founder Tom Dickson, a real boss who already destroyed things for quality control, comes across as genuine, and viewers warmed to a man having fun with his own product.
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2003Boy and Pug (You and I)
A devoted pug trotting after a small boy through his rainy day won viewers over so completely that pug sales more than doubled, and that affection settled on Hutch.
1990s
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1999Whassup?
Casts the director's real childhood friends instead of actors, and viewers warm to people who seem genuine and like them.
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1996Mamíferos
Fills the screen with three- and four-year-olds in baby-mammal costumes, and young viewers warmed to a cast of children their own age.
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1995Eat Mor Chikin
Hands the pitch to two cows who cannot spell and only want to save their own hides, and their scrappy charm made them characters people grew fond of.
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1994Yebo Gogo (Windmills)
Makes the calm, unflappable vendor the character viewers warm to, and the phone he produces borrows their affection for him.
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1993The Showdown (Jordan vs. Bird)
Lets Jordan and Bird play believable, playful versions of themselves in an ever sillier game, and viewers warm to stars who seem like good company.
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1991Glug Glug
Casts a small boy whose wide-eyed shock was real, not acted, and viewers' fondness for him kept it the country's best-liked ad across 35 years.
1980s
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1987Monkey (Walk Man '87)
Shows Choromatsu, a macaque standing upright with eyes closed as if lost in the music, looking so like a human fan that viewers warm to him at once.
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1987Spuds MacKenzie: The Original Party Animal
A bull terrier with a patch over one eye, strutting in a white tuxedo, was so lovable that more than 200 licensed products and a run on puppies followed.
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1985Vince and Larry, the Crash Test Dummies ("You Could Learn a Lot from a Dummy")
Turns two crash test dummies, cynical Vince and eager Larry, into lovable slapstick heroes, and families gladly let characters they are fond of tell them to buckle up.
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1984Come and Say G'day (Shrimp on the Barbie)
Paul Hogan, friendly and cheeky, talks to Americans like a mate asking them round, and viewers warmed to the country because they warmed to him.
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1984Lalitaji
Has Lalitaji haggle over a few rupees like the careful shoppers watching, so a woman they saw as one of their own made a convincing judge of Surf.
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1983J.R. Hartley ("Fly Fishing")
Makes the gentle old author so lovable that the public wanted him to be real, and a ghost-written book in his name became a Christmas bestseller.
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1981Slip! Slop! Slap! (Sid the Seagull)
A cheerful cartoon seagull in board shorts and a hat delivers the warning, and a friendly face made people glad to take health advice rather than resent it.
1970s
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1978Garoto Bombril (first spot)
A shy, modest young man in place of the usual housewife charmed women viewers, who warmed to his fragility more than to macho swagger.
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1977Monks ("Brother Dominic")
Gives the machine a gentle, likeable monk as its face, and affection for Brother Dominic stayed attached to Xerox for decades.
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1974Martians ("For Mash Get Smash")
Gives the brand a family of giggling metallic puppets so charming that fan mail poured in, and that affection carried over to the mash they sold.
1950s
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1959You're Never Alone with a Strand (The Lonely Man)
Casts Terence Brook as a Sinatra-style loner who drew marriage proposals, and that fondness pushed awareness past 90 per cent without ever becoming sales.
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1956The PG Tips Chimps
Dresses chimpanzees in human clothes and gives them stars' voices and sitcom roles, and viewers grew fond of the cast and of the tea they sold.
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1953The Hamm's Bear
The bear keeps falling off logs and bungling his way around the woods, and viewers grew so fond of him that newspapers printed when his spots would air.
1910s
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1917I Want You for the Navy
Puts the famous demand in the mouth of a flirtatious young woman with a knowing gaze, and an invitation from someone so appealing is harder for young men to refuse.
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1915Women of Britain Say – ‘Go!’
Has women and a small boy at a window send the men off, so the push to enlist comes from the people closest to them rather than from officials.
Liking: where it comes from
People rate strangers who share their opinions as more likeable, as Donn Byrne showed in early studies of attraction (Byrne, 1961). Liking is one of Robert Cialdini's principles of influence: we say yes more easily to people we like.
In ads it shows up as warm, funny, genuine or attractive people and characters, and as people who seem just like the audience.