Shine OnWhy are there so many redheads in commercials?
Red. It's so hot right now.
No, you're not just seeing things. There really are a lot of redheads in primetime commercials.
According to a recent study, 33 per cent of colour ads featuring people had at least one redhead in them.
And considering natural redheads only make up 2 or 3 per cent of the population, that's a pretty significant representation.
Media analysis firm Upstream Analysis teamed up with TV-monitoring platform Critical Mention to analyze five nights of television from 8:00 to 10:59 p.m., the window otherwise known as "primetime," on ABC, CBS, Fox and NBC.
Upstream Analysis founder and report author Janet Harris first shared her findings with the Huffington Post.
Of the 1,700 ads watched, a third featured redheads. And of those commercials, 56 per cent featured the redhead as the main character -- like Wendy's "Red."
The other 44 per cent of ads featured redheads as background and supporting characters.
At one point, CBS averaged one redhead every 106 seconds.
In all, plenty of non-redheads are still getting commercial work — of the 7,122 actors counted in the commercials, only 761 of them (11 per cent) were redheads — but even that number is higher than what we see in real life.
The study also found that there are twice as many redheaded adult females than males in ads, but more redheaded boys than girls.
Why the sudden influx of redheads in commercials?
"Explanations vary. Some speculate its because they photograph well. But others point to research that shows the colour red increases heart rate, stimulates appetite and is associated with intense emotions and sexual attraction. There's also research that shows humans respond to novelty, like a rare redhead, in a way that 'motivates the brain to explore, seeking a reward,'" writes Harris.
Another theory: "the novelty factor."
Redheads are relatively rare in our everyday lives, so they make us pay attention.
“The first challenge that these companies have is breaking through the advertising clutter. The first job for a traditional 30- or 60-second commercial, because they are so fleeting, is to make us pay attention. That is where the redheads come in,” Andrew Rohm, professor of marketing at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles, tells NBC News.
Even the Wendy's girl agrees.
"I think redheads get a lot of attention because they’re few and far between," actress Morgan Smith, 29-year-old star of the Wendy’s commercials and a natural dark blond, told Metro earlier this year. "They’re kind of like the unicorns of modern day society."
"I don’t want to seem hypocritical, because I'm not a natural redhead," she added. "I think we have to give them a bit more credit and stop picking on them, because they are fascinating creatures."
From bullying victims to commercial superstars. But if everyone is casting redheads, won't this novelty wear off?
