Hey - It's Carson.

In case you missed it, I had my first-ever billboard go up in Times Square last week. I was in NYC to see it and some buddies of mine came to capture the moment and support.

Here’s a pic.

Fun fact: Flamingos are born grey and develop their pink color from their diet.

They eat brine shrimp and algae, which are rich in carotenoids, and their bodies break down the pigments and deposit them in their feathers, skin, and beaks, giving them their iconic pink hue.

Now that the important stuff is out of the way, here are this week’s best ads.

Ads of the Week

Flakes, Mush, Neutonic, Old Schoolers, Joe & The Juice

Flakes

🧠 Principle: Reverse Psychology

🖋️ Definition: People do the opposite of what they are told NOT to do to reclaim autonomy.

💡 Why it works: When you tell people “DON’T BUY THIS.”, you’re breaking a normal pattern and disrupting their scroll because they aren’t used to being told not to buy something.

Which, ironically, increases attention and persuasion because they are now engaging in self-persuasion.

The headline refuses the sale outright and positions the product as something for people who don’t want dandruff.

It makes the product feel confident and high-status (Only insecure brands beg for sales).

“Men who love their nasty, flaky scalp snow…” is a group no one wants to be in. It nudges you to separate yourself from the “gross” identity and join the “clean, self-respecting” group.

Mush

🧠 Principle: Benign Violation Theory

🖋️ Definition: Humor occurs when a violation (threatening beliefs) and a benign situation (safe, acceptable) are perceived simultaneously.

💡 Why it works: “Quick and Dirty Clean Snack” is doing the heavy lifting here because “Dirty” breaks the expectation in a wellness category obsessed with “purity”.

“Clean snack” instantly resolves the tension and flips the perceived meaning.

Your brain gets dopamine for resolving the “violation,” which stands out instantly in a health-food space that’s usually boring, sterile, and predictable.

Quick breakdown of how it's used:

1. The phrase quick and dirty feels somewhat rebellious.

2. The follow-up clean snack snaps you back to reality.

3. The tension → release moment forces the brain to engage and decode the message by making you think.

“Clean ingredients,” “No refined sugar,” “15g protein,” “100% whole grains.”

All contribute to The Halo Effect (one positive thing can improve overall perception).

Each one isn’t groundbreaking alone… but stacked together, they are.

Instead of telling you the emotional benefit (energy, feeling good, no guilt), they let the features imply the benefit. Using features as implied benefits can work for food items more than almost any other category.

Neutonic

🧠 Principle: Contrast Effect

🖋️ Definition: A cognitive bias where the perception of a stimulus is influenced by the presence of another, contrasting stimulus, making it seem more or less different than it would be on its own

💡 Why it works: This ad’s entire engine is the Contrast Effect.

This is one of the most powerful principles because our brains judge things not by their absolute value but by comparison and relativity.

Show something weak next to something strong and the difference feels huge.

Most creatine gummies contain trace creatine (basically none).

Neutonic puts 5g front and center and literally labels it a WARNING (to disrupt your scroll).

It forces you to immediately form the conclusion that gummies are childish, underdosed, and ineffective, and Neutonic is “real” creatine, clinical, and actually does something.

The contrast does the persuasion for you.

You barely have to think, and your brain fills in the gap.

Old Schoolers

🧠 Principle: Nostalgia Effect

🖋️ Definition: The tendency for people to feel positive emotions toward things that remind them of “the good old days.”

💡 Why it works: Nostalgia reduces skepticism, increases emotional connection, and makes products feel more authentic and higher quality, even if the buyer never lived through the 70s.

It takes a “return to simplicity” approach.

The whole ad positions the product as a rejection of modern flashiness in favor of timeless craftsmanship and the design takes people back to those “good old days.”

Joe & The Juice

🧠 Principle: Social Proof

🖋️ Definition: People copy the actions of others to determine correct behavior, especially in situations of uncertainty.

💡 Why it works: The ad shows ChatGPT (a trusted, hyper-competent AI) saying: “It can’t get any more delicious.”

(This is Authority-Based Social Proof.)

Instead of a brand praising its own product, a third party (ChatGPT) declares the sandwich “maxed out” on deliciousness.

And because people trust opinions from perceived experts or objective sources more than ads, ChatGPT is framed as neutral, rational, and impossible to bribe, so its endorsement feels unbiased and real.

It signals to people that, “If even an AI can’t improve it… this thing must be insane.”

All it does is:

• Shows the user request (“Make this sandwich yummier”)

• Shows ChatGPT’s refusal (“It can’t get any more delicious”)

• Makes the product seem objectively perfect

It piggybacks credibility instead of paying for it.

Here's an ad I made for Shokz

That’s all for this week.

As always, thank you for reading. Feel free to email me back with your thoughts, and if you enjoyed it, or didn’t.

Till next week.

Stay Mad,

-Carson 🧪

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