Nielsen: In-game ads increase real-world sales

We hate to be the ones to break it to you -- but those in-game advertisements that some of you aren't terribly big fans? Well, they're actually pretty effective at boring into your subconscious and making you want to buy Axe Body Spray or Snickers, or whatever. A recent Nielsen study of six EA Sports titles, including NHL 10 and NBA Live 09, found that in-game ads for Gatorade increased household dollars spent on said beverage by 24 percent.

For more information on how the study was conducted, you can check out Nielsen's press release. We'd normally take the time to summarize that process in this very post, but we've suddenly been struck by the strangest, most powerful urge to go out and just start slamming some sports drinks.