Subliminal Influence PPT

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SUBLIMINAL PERSUASION
Fact or Fantasy?
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Public belief in the power of subliminals

• 75 of Americans believe that subliminal messages
  are omnipresent in advertising, and that they
  work (Rogers Seiler, 1994)
• Why?
• James Vicarys purported movie theater experiment
  in 1957
• Wilson Brian Keys claims of planted images in
  advertising
• Claims of subliminals in Disney movies and other
  media
• Media spoofs In a Simpson's episode, Homer
  receives a subliminal self-help tape which
  increases vocabulary instead of weight loss. He
  begins talking like Shakespeare.

James Vicary
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The early years An urban myth is born

• James Vicary claimed to have flashed the words
  eat popcorn and Drink Coca-Cola on a movie
  screen for 1/200th of a second, every 5 seconds
  during the movie Picnic
• He claimed popcorn sales increased 58 and Coke
  sales increased 18
• Vicarys experiment was never successfully
  replicated
• He later acknowledged the study was a fraud
  (Advertising Age ,1962)

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Why the fascination?

• The prospect of mind control is frightening
• Its fun to entertain conspiracy theories
• The popular press sensationalizes the issue, but
  fails to critically analyze the evidence
• There are just enough isolated cases to keep the
  myth alive

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Claims of embedded text and images in advertising

• Wilson Brian Keys claimed to have found phallic
  symbols in Tanqueray, Chivas Regal, Ritz cracker,
  and Betty Crocker ads.
• Can you find the embedded text in this Gilbeys
  Gin ad?

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Definitions and conceptualizations

• Subliminal message
• Below (sub) the threshold (limen) of human
  perception
• Example a message flashed so quickly that it
  cant be recognized
• Example a sound played so faintly that it cant
  be heard
• Embedding is a form of subliminal persuasion

• Supraliminal message
• A message that is consciously recognized and
  processed
• Example an image so faint that it is difficult
  to see
• Example a sound that is played quietly, yet is
  still audible
• Product placement is a form of supraliminal
  persuasion

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The middle years Embedded images and text

• Embedded images and text are subliminal messages
• This ad for Tanqueray allegedly contains a
  phallic symbol.

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Newport Ad

• Note how the woman's head is leaning back, her
  eyes closed, her mouth open, and her legs up in
  the air.What is the role of the guy standing over
  her?

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Can you find the subliminal here?

• The steam on the mirror means that someone is
  showering?If so, then the darker parts reflected
  in the mirror are the people in the shower?

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Candies

• The rocket, a phallic symbol, is blasting off.
  His middle finger creates the blast off.The
  target seems to be between her legs.

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Product placement (a.k.a. product planting)

• Product placement is a form of supraliminal
  persuasion

• Subtle, perhaps, but not subliminal

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More phallic imagery, but by no means subliminal

• Subtle, but not subliminal

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More about product placement

• Product placement will exceed 4.25 billion in
  2005 (Advertising Age, Apr 4, 2005)
• Reality TV shows, like Apprentice and American
  Idol depend on product placements
• product placement in TV shows has moved from mere
  props to becoming part of the story lines.
• Modern cinema relies on product placement to
  offset production costs.
• The practice is now so widespread that movies
  parody product placement
• Austin Powers
• Josie and the Pussycats
• Truman Show

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A key distinction

• Commercial applications of subliminal priming
  have not been demonstrated.
• Flashing Starbuckswill not make a consumer buy
  that brand of coffee

• Subliminal priming has been well documented in
  controlled laboratory settings
• Stimuli can be perceived or processed without
  conscious awareness
• Priming can produce changes in beliefs,
  attitudes, and behavior

Paparazzi help sell Starbucks through buzz
marketing or word-of-mouth (WOM) marketing
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Types of subliminals

1. Embedded images pictures or words that are
   hidden or flashed quickly (in 100ths of a second)
2. Sub-audible messages sounds or words that are
   too faint to be heard, or are played at extremely
   high frequencies
3. Electronically altered signals backward masking
   and other voice alterations

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Embedded images Now you see em, now you dont

• Champion Turner (1958) inserted Wonder Rice
  in a food ad
• Vokay Read (1985) embedded the word sex in
  ads
• Smith and Rogers (1994) found supraliminal
  messages that said choose this were far more
  effective than subliminal messages

In the last presidential election, Republicans
ran a campaign ad that included the highlighted
the word RATS in the larger word DEMOCRATS.
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Embedded images in Disney movies?

• Jessica (sans underwear?) in Who Framed Roger
  Rabbit
• It is much more likely that this was a prank by a
  cell painter than a corporate conspiracy

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Embedded images in Disney movies

• The Little Mermaid
• Is that a sandcastle in the background, or are
  you just glad to see me?
• The artist who painted this scene claimed the
  resemblance to a phallic symbol was unintentional

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More Disney embedding

• The Rescuers Down Under (whos in the window?)
• The Lion King

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More embedding

• Pepsi and embedding
• The graphics on the cans line up to form the word
  SEX

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Camel Tobacco

• The Camel Tobacco companies have also been the
  target of accusations of visual embeds. One
  common alleged embed of sexually suggestive
  imagery is on the standard pack of Camel
  cigarettes. Apparently, if you look closely
  enough at the rear leg of the camel on the
  cigarette pack, you can see an image of a naked
  mean standing tall facing the rear of the camel
  with an erect penis.

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Camel Tobacco
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What advertisers really do

• marketers keep finding new ways to deactivate our
  advertising early warning systems (Safer 2003)
• product placement
• branded entertainment (The Apprentice, American
  Idol, Extreme Makeover Home Edition)
• product integration relying on a multi-pronged
  approach based on word-of-mouth, blogs, youtube,
  and traditional media.
• The goal for these newer strategies is to appear
  as seamless, natural, and integrated into the
  context as possible

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Why product placement is so popular

• Viewers can flip past commercials or zap them
  using TIVO
• product planting cant be eliminated
• A commercial, advertisement, or billboard is
  temporary
• a planted product remains on a film forever
• Product placement is cheaper than buying
  commercial time
• a 30 second spot can cost 475,000, whereas a
  seasons worth of placements costs 200,000 (Law
  Braun, 2000)

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Commentary on product placement

• We never want to hit the movie goers over the
  head with product exposure, the best placements
  are natural and seamless
• Steve Ross 20th Century Fox
• When a Star uses a recognizable product, people
  in the audience will pat themselves on the back
  and say look how smart I am, Im using the same
  thing as the hero in the movie. Its the most
  inexpensive way to get visibility and sales
  power.
• Gisela Dawson The Catalyst Group

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Unintentional product placement
Nikes swoosh logo on suicide victims from the
Heavens Gate cult
Clinton drinking Coke during his videotaped
deposition
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Electronically altered signals The Devil Made Me
Do It

• The strange case of Raymond Belknap and James
  Vance
• Did backward masked lyrics persuade them to
  commit suicide?
• But millions of other teens listened to the album
  who didnt commit suicide
• Alternative causal explanations
• Drugs?
• Depression?
• Lack of parental supervision?

Judas Priests album Stained Class allegedly
contains backward masked lyrics
forward
backward
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Final thoughts

• If you stare at clouds long enough, you will see
  a rubber ducky
• Beware of the fallacy that presence implies
  effectiveness
• Even in controlled laboratory settings,
  subliminal effects tend to be weak and transitory
• Difficulty of proving a negative (e.g. that there
  arent subliminals everywhere)

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Purpose of using creativity in advertising

• To draw viewers attention
• Ads must be Funny

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• clever

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• unique

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• exciting

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• 2 . To create interest

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• 3 . To attract viewers .

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