Why “mere”? Mere because just the simple fact of having previously encountered something makes it seem good or preferable later on. The weird part of this is that you don’t even need to be conscious of the previous exposure.
The oddity of this blew my mind when I encountered the effect in Daniel Kahneman’s Thinking, Fast and Slow.
You don’t even need to notice it?
The effect validates, in one fell swoop, the billions and billions of dollars that major companies pour into branding efforts and advertising. I’ve always thought that certain advertisement—like along the boards at NHL games, for instance—are a waste of money. But people are watching the game! I thought. They’re not looking at these ads.
The mere exposure effect, though, would beg to differ. There IS value in simple exposure—the difference, potentially, in which candy bar you grab at the register, or which insurance company gets your search click.
Taylor Coe 