Science Says Chewing Popcorn at the Movies Makes Us Immune to Ads

Going to the movies is definitely fun, but sitting next to a loud, lip-smackin’ popcorn-eater ruins the experience in about .2 seconds. Now, according to researchers at Cologne University, snacking during a flick significantly disrupts the effectiveness of pre-movie advertising, too.

Their findings go a little something like this: whenever our brains are introduced to a new brand or name, we very subtly practice its pronunciation with our mouths. The “inner speech” helps a message become engrained in our minds, essentially benefiting the advertisers. However, there’s a big kink in this sort of product placement whilst snacking; the act of chewing can actually interrupt an ad’s effectiveness.

In order to prove this theory correct, the researchers brought 96 people to a movie theatre, giving half popcorn before the movie and the other half a dissolvable sugar cube. According to researcher Sascha Topolinski, “the mundane activity of eating popcorn made participants immune to the pervasive effects of advertising.”

Does this mean an impending doom to cinema snacks? While we can all agree Popcorn Patty needs to take it down a notch, we’re pretty sure riots would break out if that ever happened. Don’t even think about messing with our movie theatre nachos.

H/T The Guardian