The Power Of Free

One of my first lessons in advertising was when I was told that the most powerful word in the industry is ‘free’. Being an idealistic planner I always tried to ignore this and put it down as the advice of an older less creatively focused generation. However, having read Dan Ariely’s book Predictably Irrational and in particular his chapter on chocolate it appears that the word ‘free’ really does have an odd effect on our behaviour.

Neuromarketing blog writes:

“Now, research conducted by Dan Ariely (a Duke behavioral economist, previously at MIT) shows us that “free” is far more effective than “almost free.” Indeed, a preference for “free” seems to be another feature hardwired into our brains.

“Ariely attributes the preference for “free” even when the rational choice would be the bargain item to an aversion to loss. In essence, a free item carries no risk. He may well be right, though I think another explanation is that, to our hunter-gatherer brain, a free item represents the proverbial low-hanging fruit. That is, a resource that can be obtained with near-zero effort. If, millennia before money and commerce came into being, I had just gorged on fruit and had an adequate supply of food stored in my cave, I would be unlikely to go looking for more food. But, if I was walking back to my cave and found a perfect apple hanging over the path in easy reach, I’d no doubt be tempted to pluck it and figure out what to do with it later. That apple would be, in essence, “free” - other food sources might involve climbing, stalking, traveling, or other kinds of effort.”