Subliminal Advertising

Subliminal Advertising

There is no doubt that advertising plays a monumental role in today’s society. In an article related to advertising Marshal McLuhan was quoted as saying �“The continuous pressure is to create ads more and more in the image of audience motives and desires”’(Fowles 658). To achieve success in advertising, a company must pull at the consumers’ psyche long enough so they will stop and look at the product being displayed. To be at the top, advertisers need to go above and beyond, which can sometimes lead to deceitful practices. By definition subliminal messaging is a signal or message embedded in another message, designed to pass below the normal limits of perception. These messages are unapparent to the conscious mind, but in certain situations can affect the subconscious or deeper mind and affect actions or attitudes. Many question the authenticity of subliminal advertising; to put it simply, yes subliminal advertising is real. Subliminal messages have often been used in advertising in many different facets: creating artificial needs, advertisers and manufacturers of products encourage and employ the use of subliminal sexual messages, and using subliminal messaging as a means of helping people. Throughout the years advertisers have done plenty of research to find the most effective ways of reaching the consumer, and while many advertising companies deny the use of subliminal advertising, the fact remains that many ads in circulation now that are considered subliminal.

Advertisements are ubiquitous, no matter what everyone is somewhat affected by advertisements. Advertising pulls at our needs with products and promises that lead consumers to believe that the product will supply the need when it rarely can. To put it simply Sut Jhally said �“to not be influenced by advertising would be to live outside of culture. No human being lives outside of culture”’ (Kilbourne 10). Women are made to feel that if they purchase a certain product, they will look younger, have a more youthful glow, take ten pounds off, or whatever that certain product is promising at the time. Kids are made to believe through subliminal messaging that they need the certain toy, the new shoes or the ever popular video game. Sadly these are only a few examples of how advertising has lead people to believe that the basic needs are more than food, water and shelter. Everyone needs so much more now.

Wilson Bryan Key, a professor at the former Western Ontario University, wrote many books on subliminal messages and advertising. Key believed that there are many hidden messages from movie boxes to magazine ads and that a majority of the messages are imbedded with sexual connotations. Key believed that the sexual tones aimed at the unconscious mind made the products more desirable to consumers. While many disagree with Key’s ideas, the fact remains that many products were pulled off of the market due to the sexual messages being discovered and offending consumers. The well known instance of this is when Pepsi introduced the “Cool Can” design in 1990 (Claims 2). When the cans were stacked on shelves, the word sex would pop out from the new design. After protest Pepsi decided to withdraw the design. There is also plenty of controversy regarding the subliminal messages in many of the Disney movies. Two of the most notable sexual subliminal messages involve two movies, The Little Mermaid

and The Lion King. On the original cover boxes of The Little Mermaid there is a distinct picture of male genitalia in the middle tower of the castle; in The Lion King as Simba is watching his

father die, the dust clouds spell out the word sex. Whether this is coincidental or not, there is no denying that sex does play an integral part in many advertisements from alcohol to body lotion to chips; in some way, shape, or form sex usually is involved.

Subliminal messaging has other uses that are less offensive to the sensibilities than advertisements. Subliminal messages also help companies and consumers. Dr. Hal Becker, a behavioral scientist and member of the Tulane University Medical Staff, has stated that subliminal messages have been known to cut employee turnover and reduce smoking in the workplace. Becker stated, �“Obviously, there are good ways and non-societal ways of using any technology”’ (Becker qtd. in Kiesal 26). There is no denying that consumers are willing to try these “non-societal” ways to cure their vice whether it be smoking, losing weight or achieving a better a work environment