You might have noticed that a lot of ads feature the human face. Happy faces, sad faces, angry faces, smiling faces, the human face is everywhere in advertising. On a surface level, it makes sense. We’re trying to sell our products to humans, so of course we should feature them using, reacting to, and enjoying our products! However, that’s just the surface level, and by including a person’s face in an advertisement, marketers are employing a clever trick to make your ad more noticeable.

Let’s talk about the advantages of including people in your advertisements.

Your Brain is Facial Recognition Software

Did you know that an advertisement that has a human face makes it easier to understand for the viewer? Consumers see hundreds, if not thousands of ads a day in a variety of different places. Our brains can only process so many of those advertisements, along with everything else that’s always going on around us. This is why being “eye-catching” is so important, and why every discussion around advertising will inevitably contain the words “Cut through the clutter.” Using human faces in your ads helps you do just that.

 According to Adwerx, 91.7% of ads featuring people’s faces attracted more attention than those that didn’t. Researchers believe that because our brains are already hardwired to detect the human face, we’re able to process it twice as fast (or more) than other stimuli we’re exposed to. By including a face in your ad, you’ll help the customer digest the content faster. They’ll notice the face first and process it. By the time they do, they’ve likely already glanced at the rest of the ad, creating an impression.

Craft a Sight Map Using a Gaze

We’ve all had that moment in a crowd where someone is looking very intently at something, and we turn to follow their sight line and see what it is. As it turns out, that quirk also works on ads. When tested, ads featuring someone’s face looking at an object caused customers to follow the pictured sight line. When looking at an advertisement, the first place a viewer will look at is the face; the second will most likely be whatever the pictured person is looking at. This provides advertisers an opportunity to craft a sight map for viewers. We can use this trick to draw a consumer’s eye to a product, tagline, or logo.

Social Proof: Do as I Do

Humans are social creatures. We like to do the things that others are doing. Ordinarily, this would be called peer pressure, but this is advertising, so we have a bit more leniency. By depicting humans using your product, you’re subconsciously reassuring the viewer that your product is a good investment. The idea is, if it’s good enough for those people, it’s good enough for me. Similar logic is applied when you hear phrases like “nine out of 10 dentists agree.” Of course, nine dentists couldn’t be wrong, after all. By showing that your product makes a person better off for using it, your consumers are more likely to think that they, too, should give it a shot!

By including humans in our ads, we can be more eye-catching, provide a direct map for the viewer on our ad, and reassure them that they are buying a quality product. Not bad for just adding a smiling face!

Want to know more about creating eye-catching ads for your business? Contact us! We’d be happy to help get you started.