Topic:
This week, if you are watching television, pay attention to the commercials that use respondent conditioning. Please describe one of these commercials in detail. What is the unconditioned stimulus? What is the neutral stimulus? How do the creators of the commercial use pairing? Do you think that this commercial will be effective? Explain.Commercial:
#1 - Dorritos 3D
Discussion
While this commercial is older, it is a classic for respondent conditioning. A "hot girl" comes into a laundry mat and starts doing laundry. She pays attention to them while they are eating/playing wtih their 3D Dorritos. She walks over, in slow motion, puts them in the dryer, and then eats one as it flys to her across the laundromat. One of the characters then says "achi wawa" as they are trying not to drool all over themselves.Unconditioned Stimulus:
As described by Huitt and Hummel (1997), the unconditioned stimulus is something that generates a specific response. For this commercial, this stimulus is the good lucking girl. She immediately is supposed to generate a response from the men of a sexual nature.
Neutral Stimulus:
Huitt and Hummel (1997) go on to explain that the neutral stimulus should not stimulate a response in the form as the unconditioned. For this commercial, that is the 3D Dorritos. The commercial has the dorrito as simply something to eat by the men. It is not sexual in nature at all in the beginning.
Pairing:
By pairing the "hot girl" with the 3D Dorritos and having her eat the Dorritos in a manner that is not normal, the men began to react in a sexual way towards both her and the chips.
Did It Work?
As commercial viewers watch this commercial over and over again, the pairing will eventually change the view on the chips. It will make the men see that 3D Dorritos create a need for good looking women to want to be around them and the women will see the Dorritos as a way to look hotter for towards the men they are interested in.
All in all, this was a great idea. the Dorritos lasted for a few years but due to the odd nature of the product itself and that the 3D nature causes breakage during packaging and delivery, they were eventually taken off the shelf.
