Garoo

You think you know what you think? Think again:

Tapping into the unconscious doesn’t have to be rocket science. Researchers from the University of Leicester did a little experiment with a display of French and German wines in a supermarket. On alternate days, the store played French, then German music in the background, and sure enough, on French music days 77 percent of the wine sold was French, on German music days 73 percent was German. Now, we are not talking subtle here — this was cafe accordion versus an oompah band — but at the end of the checkout line, only one of 44 shoppers mentioned the musical influence, and 86 percent were sure it played no role in their choice.