From jingles to tingles: ASMR, the new advertising sensation
Chomping pickles, pouring beer, crunching chips... How the weird phenomenon of ASMR is being used to sell us stuff.
I have just spent 38 minutes looking at someone unwrapping three bars of chocolate. Before that, I watched a woman wordlessly, but very, very enthusiastically, eat a salmon fillet; she had perfect teeth but that’s all I could see of her. That YouTube video has been watched 20 million times since it was uploaded nine months ago. Earlier, I spent 15 minutes observing actor Aubrey Plaza eating cornflakes, twisting her hair and whispering. As instructed by the makers of each video, I am wearing headphones and I am oblivious to the world.
Before that, I think I watched Salma Hayek crunching her way through tostadas, also whispering, each bite painstakingly recorded by overhead binaural mics, and then Eva Longoria eating popcorn. I’ve lost track of time, and perhaps place as well — and, bafflingly, it’s blissful. It would be impossible to count the number of times I fell down a YouTube rabbit hole while writing this. I am sensitive to something called autonomous sensory meridian response, or ASMR, which means I get a tingling sensation in my scalp, neck, throat and spine when exposed to certain visual and auditory cues — and YouTube is home to more than 13 million trigger-laden videos, which can make it really hard to get any work done.
ASMR triggers range from crunchy sounds, such as biscuits being eaten or bubble wrap being popped, to soft, swishy sounds, like whispering or fabrics being folded. Visual cues are usually to do with seeing a task, often a personal one, being performed or explained carefully, such as getting a haircut or being cooked a meal. Wearing headphones means you hear the videos binaurally, which intensifies the sensation by making the experience feel three-dimensional.
ASMR was first described in 2010 but the first intentionally triggering YouTube video was made in the UK and posted in 2009. It is such a new discovery, and so relatively unresearched, that no one knows what proportion of the population experiences it or even why they do, but there are a lot of us: ASMR is currently the fifth most-searched term on YouTube in the US, and the eighth in the world (according to analysis by web research company Ahrefs published in February). The hashtag #asmr appears on Instagram 6.2 million times. Some “ASMRtists”, such as SAS-ASMR, who made the salmon video, have upwards of five million subscribers on YouTube; some earn a full-time income from their channels. (Most of the celebrities have been invited to make videos like those above by magazines such as Vice or W.) The top five ASMR channels have a combined watch of nearly two billion views — and although food-and-drink themes form only a part of the ASMR universe, they are very popular: one video of a woman eating chicken nuggets has been viewed more than 40 million times. As a food writer, I’m a sucker for food-related ASMR content. There are Spotify playlists made up of people talking about, tapping, rustling and then eating chocolate or popping candy.
ASMR is a new discovery for me. A couple of months ago, I found myself drawn to make-up adverts on Instagram, which I found incredibly restful — I could lose half an hour watching someone apply eyeshadow. The tingly scalp sensation was instantly familiar — as a child, I got it when my mother brushed my hair, as well as when my feet were measured for shoes, but I had never talked about it. When I Googled it, I found the food videos. Down the rabbit hole I fell.
Most people who experience ASMR have been aware of it since childhood. As well as the scalp tingles, ASMR is followed by a deep, joyful, almost meditative state of relaxation, and many ASMR followers use trigger videos to fall asleep or to alleviate anxiety and depression. “From a psychological point of view, ASMR has the potential to tell us how the brain is wired up for the different senses integrating together, because you’re experiencing tactile tingling sensations without any actual physical input,” says Tom Hostler, a psychology lecturer at Manchester Metropolitan University.
He has been studying ASMR since 2015, when a fellow PhD student, Giulia Poerio, suggested he help with a side project that turned into one of the first academic papers on the topic. Their study demonstrated that ASMR is associated with reduced heart rate and heightened skin conductivity (a measure of physiological arousal and emotional response). They were among the first to suggest ASMR experiences could have therapeutic benefits. A small number of studies have since suggested the experiences can decrease stress, increase relaxation and focus, and improve mood.
If you experience ASMR, even if you didn’t know it by name until now, you may be nodding in recognition as you read this. If you don’t, this will probably all sound extremely weird. Unhelpfully, commentators often draw parallels with sexual arousal, with which it has very little in common since ASMR experiences are soothing, not stimulating. (Journalists have used the snappy but inaccurate terms “brain orgasm” and “whisper porn”.) An easier way to understand it might be as a relative to frisson, the goose-bumpy feeling many people get from listening to emotionally charged pieces of music.
That ASMR is frequently misunderstood hasn’t stopped big food and drink brands treating it as a trend. Last month, Michelob Ultra beer ran an ASMR-triggering advert during the US Super Bowl, meaning that 100 million people watched Zoë Kravitz sitting at a table in a forest, whispering into two microphones as she carefully appeared to play close, kindly attention to the viewer, then tapped a beer bottle with long fingernails, rolled the bottle over the table, opened it and poured a glass. “The Super Bowl is known for being loud and for [ads containing] shouting and yelling and explosions,” says Liz Taylor, chief creative officer at FCB Chicago, the agency that created the ad. “We wanted to see if we could turn our advertisement into an experience. Could we let 100 million people all feel something at the same time and give them tingles down their spines?”
The point of the almost silent ad was to trigger ASMR, but also to counteract the noise associated with the Super Bowl and Super Bowl parties. “Tapping into ASMR as a trend made perfect sense to us, but it was definitely a risk,” says Azania Andrews, VP of marketing at Anheuser-Busch, which owns Michelob Ultra. Andrews was immediately taken with the idea when FCB presented it to her. “It was super cool to create a moment of quiet, even for people not into ASMR,” she says. Taylor agrees: “We thought we could introduce Michelob Ultra in a really disruptive way. The goal was that people would stop what they were doing and gather around the TV.”
The ad has been a huge hit: since its TV debut it has been viewed more than 14 million times on YouTube, mentioned in US broadsheets and on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon. FCB got an ASMR expert involved even before they presented the idea. “We didn’t want to be fake because there is such a huge ASMR community, and if we were called out for not being true to it, we knew that community would be very loud and come after us,” says Taylor. The team chose to work with Craig Richard, professor of biopharmaceutical sciences at Shenandoah University, Virginia, author of several papers on ASMR and a book, Brain Tingles. He provided parameters for the team. “I highlighted that it should be intimate rather than sexual, let them know that whispering is the top trigger, and to create a positive personal experience between the actor and the viewer,” says Richard. “I also encouraged them to keep the nature sounds secondary because those are not strong ASMR triggers, and to try not to include music, because music may be inhibitory to ASMR.”
How does the ASMR community feel about the technique they use to relax being used by big business? “The response is mixed,” says Richard. “Some feel a loss, that their niche and personal connection with ASMR is being commercialised and going mainstream. Others are excited to see more awareness and understanding be brought to something that could be helpful to others.”
Michelob’s ad is not the first but it’s certainly the most successful. Others include a Dove chocolate ad, which aired in China four years ago, and a Korean ad for Ritz Crackers in 2016.
Tom Hostler believes more food and drink brands will use ASMR in the future. “It’s clever. If you make a really good ASMR-triggering video, then people are going to watch it regardless of whether they like beer or are interested in the product… People try to ignore most adverts, but people search out videos that give them ASMR, and when they watch them, they wear headphones, stare intently and block out all other distractions. That’s an advertiser’s dream.”
Five of the most popular ASMR videos on YouTube
ASMR Honeycomb, by SAS-ASMR
Wordless honeycomb slurping by an ASMRtist who specialises in extreme eating, this is arguably not strictly ASMR. Nonetheless, the video has been viewed more than 29 million times in the past year. Pickle ASMR Eating Sounds, by
ASMRTheChew
Many people will find this revolting. Some ASMR followers would say it’s not ASMR content at all, while others use it to fall asleep: 17 minutes of crunching on pickled cucumbers.
How to Make Bubble Tea by Peaceful Cuisine Chef Ryoya
Takashima makes beautiful, wordless ASMR cookery videos. With 8.9 million views, this is the most popular.
New York Cheesecake Recipe by Emojoie Cuisine
On a channel where many of the ASMR videos regularly get millions of views, this is the most popular, with 6.2 million: a satisfying nine minutes of whisking, mixing, baking and slicing.
ASMR Eating Chick-fil-A Breakfast by ASMR Darling
A 21-minute video of ASMR Darling whispering, tapping, unwrapping and eating a fast-food breakfast.
© FT Magazine
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