There is no neutral design in marketing; choices are always being nudged. For example, a canteen's layout nudges either healthy or unhealthy eating. Therefore, the ethical question isn't whether to use psychological principles, but whether the resulting "nudge" is designed to provide genuine value to the user.
The "pratfall effect" shows that revealing a minor flaw can make a brand more relatable and likable. Guinness successfully used this by framing its slow pour time as a virtue ("Good things come to those who wait"), turning a potential weakness into a strength that builds trust and brand character.
A study found sending customers a handwritten thank you note increased their future spending by an average of $52, leveraging the principle of reciprocity. This was significantly more effective than a generic printed note ($29 increase), demonstrating the high ROI of personalized, effortful gestures in customer retention.
In a large-scale Facebook experiment for a chip deal, KFC Australia found the most effective slogan was not a creative tagline but a simple phrase invoking scarcity: "limited to four per customer." This demonstrates that basic psychological principles can be more persuasive and profitable than clever, brand-focused copywriting.
Studies show people often prefer AI-generated art based on quality alone, but their preference flips to the human-created version once they know the source. This reveals a deep-seated bias for human effort, posing a significant "Catch-22" for marketers who risk losing audience appreciation if their AI usage is discovered.
Rather than stating an MP3 player had "253 megabytes," Steve Jobs said the iPod held "1000 songs in your pocket." This use of "concrete phrases"—terms the brain can easily visualize—is proven to be up to eight times more memorable than the abstract technical language commonly used by enterprise brands.