Ever noticed how a song you hated at first somehow ends up on your playlist? Yeah, that’s not random, and it has a name. We’re talking about a strange little brain trick that makes us like stuff simply because we’ve seen it more than once. Ads use it. Come on, even your own brain uses it on you without asking. It always works, even when we know it’s happening.
Why Are You Starting to Like Something You Hated at First?
“I hated that jingle the first time… now I can’t stop humming it.” We’ve all been there. It works literally with everything. Well, almost with everything. When we spot something like hugopedersen.dk, it’s 80%, we won’t scroll it. It’s something we like and trust. But with other things we know less, the first reaction will be resistance, which is actually pretty normal.
It’s called the mere exposure effect. It’s one of those psychological quirks that works quietly in the background. The more we see something, the more we tend to like it because we get used to it. Our brains tag familiarity as safety. And the more familiar something feels the less energy we spend processing it. That ease gets misread as liking, and now we’re vibing with something we used to ignore this whole time.
The Brain’s Shortcut to Trust
Psychologist Robert Zajonc named it the mere exposure effect in the 1960s. He found that just seeing something over and over again makes us more likely to trust it. We don’t even need deep analysis or logic. Just repeat, and the brain starts warming up to it. It’s more like a shortcut — mostly invisible.
We’re wired to stick with what feels familiar. It’s a survival thing. New equals unknown, and unknown can mean danger. Well, not always, but our brain likes to be careful. Look, back there, people hated technology and even executed people who were “promoting” it. Then we got used to it, and it constantly developed every day, and it’s hard to imagine our life without it. Now, it’s comfortable and low risk. So when our brains spot something we’ve already processed a few times, they quietly check a box:
- Seen this before?
- Didn’t kill us?
- Still around?
And just like that, it gets a little boost in our mental rankings.
It Happens to Everyone
You’re not immune, just like anyone else. We hear a song we don’t like, then hear it again…and again. It especially works on TikTok. If some tunes become a trend, you’ll listen to them again and again, at least for a month. Suddenly, it’s not so bad. Memes we rolled our eyes at? A week later, we’re sharing them. Same with brand logos or political slogans. The repetition chips away at resistance. Our brains start rating these things as more trustworthy, whether we agree with it or not.
It works even when we don’t notice it. Companies pay to put logos behind the net at soccer games or on the edge of race tracks. We’re watching the action, but our brain still picks it up. Every flash of color, every repeat counts. The logo becomes familiar, and familiar wins. It’s actually one of the reasons the iPhone is so popular in the USA. It’s more familiar (accordingly safe).
Why Advertisers and Marketers Love This Trick
When we see the same ad over and over, it might feel lazy. Like, they’re just flooding the screen. Well, they’re not, it’s on purpose. Repetition in ad campaigns is a strategy. Same with political slogans. They don’t change because the goal isn’t to inform — it’s to repeat until it feels familiar. And once it feels familiar, it starts to feel right. Look at the “Make America Great Again” slogan. The person who said it is a president for the second time. It played its role, as there were times we heard it everywhere.
Advertisers know the math behind this. We’re more likely to buy something (even months later) if we’ve seen the name just once or twice. We needed time to love this, and we had it. It’s exposure, and here’s how they use it:
- Repeat the brand name across channels (TV, social, packaging)
- Use simple, catchy slogans that stick
- Place logos where we barely notice them (but still see them)
- Keep visuals and colors consistent, so they become familiar faster
Familiar = safe. Safe = trustworthy. And that’s what gets us to buy.
Conclusion
It’s just how our brains work. The more we see or hear something, the more familiar it feels, and that familiarity starts to feel like trust. The mere exposure effect has been shaping our choices forever. We like what we know, even if we didn’t mean to. If we don’t trust something, we mostly just need some time to get used to it. And marketers know this. That’s why they repeat all the time — to make things stick. It’s exposure, and it works on all of us.