Neuroscientific techniques applied to audiovisual stimuli: cognitive-emotional analysis of Heineken advertisements during COVID-19

Abstract

Using neuroscience techniques applied to the analysis of audiovisual content, four Heineken brand advertisements produced during the COVID-19 pandemic are studied. The main objective is to detect what cognitive and emotional responses the different stimuli elicit in thirty subjects and to assess whether the narrative construction of the advertisements works in conveying their advertising messages through images and sounds. For this purpose, after a preliminary textual analysis, tools are used to record facial micro-expressions and eye tracking, and the research is completed with a recall test. The results indicate the predominance of the emotions of joy and surprise, as well as the presence of other emotions (disgust, contempt, sadness) at specific moments. In turn, it was found that the types of images that most capture the viewer's attention are those that include eye-catching, exciting, descriptive actions of the pandemic (mask, social distance greeting, etc.) or which include written text on the screen. Likewise, it is observed that the Heineken product in its various forms (bottle, tap, logo, etc.) is only prominently perceived in the frame if there is a dramatic action to accompany or underline it. In contrast, the human figure (the eyes, above all) is the visual component on which the subjects' gaze is predominantly focused. Finally, the results of the recall test coincide with the rest of the analyses with respect to the intensity of the emotions produced by the stimuli.