Most interesting, Ankesh. Thanks for sharing. I've been o-u-t of this sort of thing for quite a few years now and I guess it shows.
Still, the associations type of thing is used more and more these days...just about everywhere it seems.
One study I read some time ago showed that ASSOCIATIVE IMAGES were what people were responding to, when they responded. It seems that is what was working, when it worked. Something the person would ordinarily desire anyway is simply reinforced. If it's outside the person's desireable range, it has no effect. Probably explains why the conflicting reports on effectiveness.
A quick check shows that most commonly used associative advertising falls into some very common "good things most folks want" so they must've found something to it...or they're just being lemmings and following the leader?
Sandi Bowman