That Picture is Going to Cost Me How Many Words??

Images vs. Text - which is more likely to improve my advertising?

Have you ever traveled to a foreign country where you don’t speak the language? I remember travelling to France and, despite 4 years of high school French classes, felt completely lost when it came to communicating. Even basic phrases I learned on Day 1 didn’t seem to resonate with the locals. (I’m pretty sure I tried introducing myself by saying ‘omlette du fromage’). My dad used to tell me a story about going to a restaurant overseas where they had to bring out a picture menu and he had to point at what he wanted to order.  

There’s no question that images make it easier to communicate. Cave paintings were around long before any written word. There’s a reason that we start by reading picture books first. Additionally, many studies have proven that we remember pictures better (this is known as the Picture Superiority Effect). Given those studies, the fact that we have the attention span of a goldfish, and the fact many social media platforms prioritize images over text posts, it should be considered a done deal that images are better right?

Not so fast - words have a powerful impact as well. Consider the following study:

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