Have you ever had your memory of a cherished — or not-so-cherished — childhood event called into question by a parent who points out that it actually happened to your brother? If so, you will sympathize with the subjects of experiments that hit the headlines after being described by Elizabeth Loftus of the University of Washington at the British Association Science Festival in Glasgow, UK.

“The advertisers are coming for your childhood”

The Independent

(UK, 5 September 2001)

“No thanks for the memory ... it was only a TV advert”

The Guardian

(UK, 5 September 2001)

There is plenty of evidence that our memories are less reliable than we think they are. For example, if you have been told repeatedly that a certain event happened in your childhood, you are likely to end up 'remembering' it — even though the memory has been created by your brain in response to the retelling of the story. Such 'false memories' can seem just as vivid as the real thing.

Loftus carried out experiments to show that adverts can also rewrite our childhood memories. When they were shown a fake advert for Disneyland that featured children shaking hands with Bugs Bunny, people in her study were more likely to say that they remembered meeting Bugs Bunny at Disneyland during their childhood — even though Bugs Bunny isn't a Disney character.

So the next time an advert prompts you to go out looking for that sweet you loved as a child, or that coffee your mother always used to buy, beware — you could be the unwitting victim of memory manipulation by the advertisers.