Coca-Cola: mere-exposure effect example to copy

What to steal

Repeat the brand name in the headline and in the sentence under it.
If a vote only puts a town in for consideration, say “considered”, as this page does.

What to test next: Headline and sentence with the brand name twice vs the same card with the name once. Measure votes started.

In plain words

Why it works

Coca-Cola uses the mere-exposure effect: people tend to like things more the more often they have seen them (Zajonc 1968). The headline reads “Vote for the Coca‑Cola Christmas Truck’s Next Stop”. The sentence under it reads “For the first time EVER Brits can help shape where the iconic Coca‑Cola Christmas Truck brings its festive magic next. Vote now to give your town the chance to be considered for a special visit.” The Coca‑Cola script is also painted on the truck in the photograph. The button says “Vote Now”. The sentence says a town can be “considered for a special visit”, not that a vote guarantees one. Whether seeing the name again makes the vote feel more familiar is not public.

Honest nudge or dark pattern?

Conditional

Conditional: the name is repeated on a real seasonal vote, and the copy says a town is considered, not chosen. It would cross the line if the repetition sat on a prize the page does not offer.

Sources: Captured by Nudgeswipe, 4 Nov 2026 (Great Britain homepage, logged out)

Context

Coca-Cola Great Britain homepage, logged out, on 4 Nov 2026. The header shows the Coca-Cola script with “Great Britain”. The truck vote is the card in view.

The research

The research behind it

● Strong evidence (provisional) · More on mere-exposure effect, with sources →

Next: run it on your product

Try it on your own product

Opens your assistant with this teardown, our verdict and the steps above. It asks about your product first, then suggests tests you can run.

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You are helping me apply a behavioural-design pattern ethically.

Pattern: Coca-Cola: Coca-Cola repeats its name on the Christmas truck vote
Bias: Mere-exposure effect: We tend to like things more the more often we've seen them.
Why it nudges: Coca-Cola uses the mere-exposure effect: people tend to like things more the more often they have seen them (Zajonc 1968). The headline reads "Vote for the Coca‑Cola Christmas Truck's Next Stop". The sentence under it reads "For the first time EVER Brits can help shape where the iconic Coca‑Cola Christmas Truck brings its festive magic next. Vote now to give your town the chance to be considered for a special visit." The Coca‑Cola script is also painted on the truck in the photograph. The button says "Vote Now". The sentence says a town can be "considered for a special visit", not that a vote guarantees one. Whether seeing the name again makes the vote feel more familiar is not public.
Our verdict: Conditional. Conditional: the name is repeated on a real seasonal vote, and the copy says a town is considered, not chosen. It would cross the line if the repetition sat on a prize the page does not offer.
Source page: https://nudgeswipe.com/examples/coca-cola-christmas-truck-vote/ (JSON: https://nudgeswipe.com/api/teardowns/coca-cola-christmas-truck-vote.json)

Rules: say a brand "uses" a tactic, never that it "worked"; outcomes are not public unless the company published them; no invented uplift estimates; flag mixed evidence. Honest nudge = true, visible, easy to reverse, and in the user's interest. Dark pattern = hides costs, fakes scarcity or popularity, shames, or makes leaving harder than joining. Quote company-published results as "X reports", with the source link, and don’t generalise them. Don’t cite retracted or failed-to-replicate studies as support (e.g. Ariely & Wertenbroch 2002). Don’t state study figures unless they’re on this page or in a source you can link. If an idea crosses the line, link the matching deceptive.design pattern.

Tasks:
1. Ask me for my product, the flow (URL or screenshots) and the goal.
2. Audit where this pattern already appears, or could, in that flow.
3. Propose 2-3 ethical experiments: hypothesis, variant copy or UI, primary metric, and a guardrail metric (refunds, complaints, cancellations).
4. Flag every dark-pattern risk and say how to stay on the honest side.

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Sources

Our capture of coca-cola.com, 4 Nov 2026
Zajonc (1968), Attitudinal effects of mere exposure. doi.org/10.1037/h0025848
Captured by Nudgeswipe, 4 Nov 2026 (Great Britain homepage, logged out): coca-cola.com

Coca-Cola repeats its name on the Christmas truck vote

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Why it works

Conditional

The research behind it

Try it on your own product

5 new nudges, every Friday