Ads: Have Brands found religion in Sex?

Throwing science into the mix of why we buy the products we buy -- (via brain scans) a new book -- 'talks about the sexual appeal of Abercrombie & Fitch's pitch, the history of subliminal ads, and the origins of the lime slice in a bottle of Mexican beer,' suggests Business Week (on marketings newest buzzword: neromarketing).

'The author’s basic premise is that as consumers, we are at a loss to explain our purchasing decisions—unaware, for example, that we bought the new iPod because it was so cool-looking we thought merely owning it would get us laid, thereby increasing our reproductive advantage,' says the New York Observer.

'Lindstrom boldly asserts that car commercials are ineffective because they’re all basically the same and don’t engage us emotionally. He also lets us know that “for its millions of fervent constituents,'

adding -- 'Apple wasn’t just a brand, it was a religion.”

'And product placement in movies only works if the product in question is an integral, seamless part of the story, like the Ray-Ban Wayfarers in Risky Business,' says the Observer.

'Years ago, Revlon founder Charles Revson drily observed that "in the factory, we make perfume; in the store we sell hope," suggests this The Wall Street Journal review.

'He was thinking, of course, of the romantic possibilities that Revlon's ads linked with its product. Neuromarketing can now pinpoint where in our brain such hope is triggered and tell a marketer which ad campaign will send the most blood there,' adds the Journal.

Soooo, if I'm reading this correctly, brain science suggests what we already knew to be true: sexy products in sexy situations helps folks embrace brands the same way they embrace religion...eh?

Yeah, I guess that works for me: