Subliminal Advertising Has Been One

Subliminal Advertising has been one of the most alluring features of the marketing industry since 1950s, when moviegoers were allegedly exposed to the surreptitious signals while they watched a movie. Some alarmists claim that the American public is being constantly bombarded with subliminal messages that sell products and political messages, or simply induce a state of mind. In fact, Russian scientists had become so concerned about the potential of subliminal ads to influence television viewers that they developed a device that would detect and disable subliminal messages being broadcast on national television (Voyteskhovskiy). Concern about the potential power of subliminal advertising may be unfounded, however. Scientific studies have been relatively inconclusive regarding the efficacy of the messages that are delivered subliminally: that is, below conscious awareness. Many marketing experts and researchers point out that subliminal advertising does not work at all and that public interest in subliminal advertising undermines the integrity of the marketing industry. Nevertheless, subliminal messages retain a significant allure in the popular culture and evidence does show that popular media may contain "priming" elements that, subliminal or not, work to alter behavior, consumer patterns, and states of mind and emotion (Bargh).

Subliminal messages are "presented so briefly that the audience isn't consciously aware of them, but that nonetheless may influence the audience's behavior," (Bargh, p. 1). Common examples include flash-frame photos embedded within ordinary ads or within the body of a television show or film. The hidden cues were once placed on the 25th frame of a cinema reel, and have been referred to in industry vernacular as the "25th frame" messages (Voyteskhovskiy p. 1). Advanced media editing technology facilitates the creation and insertion of subliminal messages into all media, including audio. For example, Moore draws attention to the "relentless annual dirge of pop carols" bombarding the ears during Christmas shopping season (p. 2). Although the carols may not be embedded with subliminal statements like "Buy Now!" they may work "by awakening warm feelings in their customers" that prompt them to buy more products and overcome their fears of spending too much money (Moore p. 2). In the case of insidious pop Christmas carols, the subliminal messages might not relate to specific products so much as they pertain to the general spirit of giving.

The effectiveness of subliminal advertising depends more on the mood they create than whether or not a specific message has been placed below conscious awareness (Bargh). Referred to as priming by clinical researchers, In other words, the definition of subliminal advertising may need to include not only the visual and auditory signals that are deliberately and surreptitiously embedded into media, but also the subtext that at least media-literate consumers are consciously aware of. Many advertisements contain messages that are not subliminal in the traditional definition of the word. The imagery in an advertisement for Mr. Clean, for example, depicts a benevolent yet buff man who magically appears to bust out the dirt bothering the housewives. Mr. Clean is old and wise as well as strong, and his image is used to sell an ordinary cleansing product. Though Mr. Clean advertisements probably do not have images embedded in the 25th frame or anywhere else, the ad conveys its message somewhat covertly. Only media-literate viewers would notice the subtext and make informed consumer decisions.

Similarly, children are exposed to a plethora of products marketed specifically to them. Though the advertisements for clothes, toys, and games may not contain subliminal messages the music, actors, colors, and script of the ad are crafted to evoke an emotional response, to stimulate desire and longing for a product. Furthermore, research does show that children are influenced by the advertisements they see on television. A report published by the Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine revealed that "for each additional hour per day that a child watched television, an average of one additional request was made for an advertised product," (Motluk p. 1). Advertisements that target young children can be viewed as being inherently subliminal because pre-literate and pre-media literate children have no idea what is being said about the product they see; they only know that the commercial made them feel something that that feeling made them want to buy a certain toy.

Gray insists that subliminal advertising is only a "myth that the public would like to believe is true," (p. 2). Likewise, Hal Shoup, an executive Vice President of the American Association of Advertising Agencies claimed that subliminal advertising is largely a "myth" and that advertisers don't use subliminal messages because there is "no interest in it," (cited by Teinowitz p. 2). Research on the effectiveness of subliminal advertising has been generally inconclusive but the influence of subliminal messages on an unassuming public may be "unpredictable and unsafe," (Voyteskhovskiy). Moreover, some of the studies cited to disprove the efficacy of subliminal messages use faulty methodology. For example, Gray took part in a study in which single-digit numbers were embedded into advertisements; participants were asked to write down the first single-digit number that came into their heads after watching the commercials and there was no correlation between the number they wrote down and the number that was embedded into the ad.

The study is flawed for two reasons. First, single-digit numbers have no emotional impact on the viewer. Subliminal messages probably work for many of the same reasons that overt messages work: they convey emotionally-laden or evocative material. Second, a study on the effectiveness of subliminal advertising cannot be conducted in one focus-group sitting. Rather, researchers should be interested in the long-term effects of the advertisements on consumer behavior and thought patterns. Many standard, non-subliminal advertisements take several viewings or even months of media saturation in order to "sink in" and potentially alter consumer behavior. Bargh notes that all effective advertisements contain content designed to strike at the deepest recesses of our mind and emotions, grabbing our attention with imagery that our eyes are naturally attracted to or by pairing the target product with an attractive image. That attractive image could be sexual in nature like placing a sexy woman in a car ad; or the image might pair the target product with an ideal such as by pairing an ad for athletic shoes with a celebrity football player.

Advertisements do more than get the word out; they associate a particular product with a particular emotion that is likely to trigger an increase in sales. Subliminal advertising works on the same principle because in either case, the viewer can remain totally unaware of the messages being conveyed through the commercial media. Motluk mentions a study conducted at the University of Nijmegen in the Netherlands, which revealed that subliminal cues of thirst prompted participants' decisions to drink Lipton Ice. Thus, subliminal messages have been shown to affect consumer thoughts and behavior, especially when the priming is "goal-relevant," (p. 1).

Subliminal advertising is not only used to sell products. When a campaign ad sponsored by the Republican National Committee flashed keywords across the screen, it was accused of using subliminal advertising to criticize Democratic opponent Al Gore. The incident drew public attention to the subject of subliminal advertising, which for years had been thought dead in the marketing world. The Republican National Committee staunchly denied the accusations that it had used subliminal messages. Still, the word "bureaucrats" was cut off so that "rats" appeared on the screen a bit longer than any other word being flashed to viewing audiences (Teinowitz).