TV ads that are creative and enjoyable are more effective, new research has found.

Despite the assumption that adverts requiring our close attention would make us more susceptible to sales message, the University of Bath research claims just the opposite.

In fact, the adverts we pay less attention to were ranked higher.

Results from the research, published in the Journal of Advertising Research, showed that viewers paid less attention to likeable and creative adverts and more attention to factual information-giving adverts.

Dr Heath, from the university's School of Management, said: "There has been a lot of research which shows that creative TV ads are more effective than those which simply deliver information, and it has always been assumed that it is because viewers pay more attention to them.

"But in a relaxed situation like TV watching, attention tends to be used mainly as a defence mechanism. If an ad bombards us with new information, our natural response is to pay attention so we can counter-argue what it is telling us.

"On the other hand, if we feel we like and enjoy an ad, we tend to be more trustful of it and therefore we don't feel we need to pay too much attention to it.

"The sting in the tail is that by paying less attention, we are less able to counter-argue what the ad is communicating. In effect we let our guard down and leave ourselves more open to the advertiser's message.

"The findings suggest that if you don't want an ad to affect you in this way, you should watch it more closely."

* But what are your favourite adverts of all time?

Is it the famous You've Been Tangoed campaign for the fizzy drink?

Or the more refined Fairy washing up liquid ads of the eighties, where tables showed us how much more we could was up?

Or does the love affair of a Maxwell House ad campaign still spark your memory?

Let us know using the form below...