Ready for the counter-intuitive news item of the day? Well, according to a recent study published in the Journal of Advertising Research, the less attention we pay to a commercial, the more likely we are to fall prey to it’s aims. That is, the less we’re thinking about that cool, new car commercial, the more likely it is we’ll want to buy the car all the same. Does that make sense?

Well, here’s the logic to it. At this point in TV-watching history, viewers are so aware of what commercials are trying to accomplish (encouraging you to spend money) that when we’re paying attention to the commercial we’re more likely to be using our brain to dismiss the commercials claims. It’s when we’re not paying attention, and thus aren’t auto dismissing what the commercials are saying, that the not-so-subliminal messages are able to do make their way in and do their dirty work.

So advertisers = stupid, yeah? They’ve been trying to “capture” our attention all this time, not stealth their way in, as the study now shows they should, right? Well, not quite.

As it turns out the types of commercials we’re most likely to not pay attention to are commercials that are a.) creative and b.) enjoyable. That is, the kind of commercials that advertisers have been trying to make for a long time now — albeit for the wrong reasons.

So for those of us who still watch TV with commercials, stay vigilante and fight the good fight. We can’t let the advertisers win. Then again, what’s the point of relaxing in front of the TV if we can’t turn our brains off for a little while?

Ugh.