Most merchants would include “happy customers” as a key part of their mission. Oddly, new research shows that sad customers are likely to spend more money when shopping. Merely watching a sad video clip caused subjects to pay nearly four times as much for a water bottle than subjects who watched an emotionally neutral clip.

The Loser. The inevitable fMRI neuromarketing analyses of the 2008 Super Bowl ads hasn’t appeared yet, but I’ve got my pick for the worst: Planters Nuts spot showing a hideous-looking woman who seemed amazingly attractive to those around her. This sounds like a good scenario for a perfume, perhaps… through most of the commercial, one [...]