Nudge - Marketing Science Simplified
Enhanced Games: Did the $320m marketing stunt backfire?
Published: 1 June 2026 at 06:47 Europe/London
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Episode notes
The Enhanced Games, hosted in Las Vegas last Saturday, made a bold claim.
With the use of performance-enhancing drugs, enhanced athletes would break not just personal records but world records.
And the end goal? To sell those same drugs to the masses.
It’s arguably the biggest marketing stunt of the year so far, and today on Nudge I reveal the psychology behind it.
Did the Enhanced Games succeed? Listen to find out.
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Today’s sources
Landy, D., & Sigall, H. (1974). Beauty is talent: Task evaluation as a function of the performer's physical attractiveness. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 29(3), 299–304.
Miller, A. G. (1970). Role of physical attractiveness in impression formation. Psychonomic Science, 19(4), 241–242.
Mujika, I., & Burke, L. M. (2019). Swimming fast when it counts: A 7-year analysis of Olympic and World Championships performance. International Journal of Sports Physiology and Performance.
Nicolau, J. L., Mellinas, J. P., & Martín-Fuentes, E. (2020). The halo effect: A longitudinal approach. Annals of Tourism Research, 83, 102938.
Nisbett, R. E., & Wilson, T. D. (1977). The halo effect: Evidence for unconscious alteration of judgments. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 35(4), 250–256.
