Use of Subliminal perception in Integrated Marketing Communication

2. Overview
• History
• Introduction
• Concepts
• Methods
• Effectiveness (with help of examples)
• Summary

3. History
E.W. Scripture‟s New Radio
Psychology (1898) 1920‟s- people disliked
Greeks-5th Century BC summarized subliminal the radio
advertising BBC-backward masking
On June 22, 1956, the
The use of subliminal British Broadcasting James Vicary
techniques introduced Corporation Increased popcorn and
in US started since the experimented with coca-cola sales
World War I period projecting subliminal Manipulation
images on television

4. Introduction
• Subliminal is a two part word consisting of the prefix sub- and the
root word limen (Latin origins)
• Sub- means below and limen means threshold
• Thus, subliminal comes to mean below threshold

5. Subliminal perception occurs whenever
stimuli presented below the threshold
It influence thoughts, feelings, or actions
The term subliminal perception was originally
used to describe situations in which weak
stimuli were perceived without awareness
In recent years, term has been applied more
generally to describe any situation in which
unnoticed stimuli are perceived

6. Process Overview of Subliminal Perception

7. Concepts
• Subliminal message
• Below (sub) the threshold (limen) of human perception
– Example: a message flashed so quickly that it can‟t be
recognized
– Example: a sound played so faintly that it can‟t 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

8. Concepts
– “Priming” occurs when a subliminal stimulus precedes, or is paired with, a
supraliminal message (Strahan, Spencer, & Zanna, 2000).
– The prime is flashed at about 16 milliseconds, below the threshold of
conscious perception.
– The results reveal that such priming improves subjects’ performance
(Debner & Jacoby, 1994; Klinger & Greenwald, 1995).

9. Concepts
• Is engaged when consumers
devote attention to an
Voluntary advertisement or other marcom
message that is perceived as
Attention relevant to their current
purchase-related goals
• Occurs when attention is
captured by the use of
Involuntary attention-gaining techniques
rather than by the consumer‟s
Attention inherent interest in the topic at
hand

10. Three methods in common use
They are–
• Product Endorsement,
• Product Placement, and
• Hidden (Subliminal) Imagery.

11. Why do advertisers use these
methods?
•As consumers buying decisions based on emotion rather than logic
•Sometimes decisions based purely on the way the product is presented
•Advertisers know this
•Market their products in ways that appeal to our emotions and
subconscious mind

12. How do these methods work?
Product Endorsement
-The most up-front and honest method
Product Placement
- Slightly sneakier derivative of product endorsement
- Product placement is a particularly potent form of subliminal
advertising
-It catches us off guard
-Visibly featuring branded products or brand names in a movie
or television program.

13. How do these methods work?
• Product Placement:
-Paid verbal or visual brand exposure in entertainment
programming
- For example, you settle down to watch an episode of
Fraser, your all time hero, and happen to notice that he drinks a
certain brand of coffee (“brand X").
• In-Game Advertising:
– refers to the use of computer and video games as a medium
in which to deliver advertising.

14. Quotes 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, I‟m using the same thing as the hero in the
movie‟. It‟s the most inexpensive way to get visibility and
sales power.”
– Gisela Dawson; The Catalyst Group

15. Urban Myth ….
• Subliminal perception means "perception without realization.“
• 1950‟s with James Vicary's classic experiment in a New
Jersey movie theatre
• Coke Experiment: “Drink Coca-Cola” and “Eat popcorn”

16. 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%
• He later acknowledged the study was a
fraud (Advertising Age ,1962)

17. Trend of subliminal marketing
• In the 1970s, Wilson Bryan Key wrote such books
as Subliminal Seduction and Media Sexploitation
• He claimed subliminal sexual symbols or objects are often
used to entice consumers to buy and use various products
and services
• One of Key's most famous claims is that the word was
often embedded in products and advertisements

18. Examples….
• http://i463.photobucket.com/albums/q
q358/30PP0/th_01.gif?t=1287183914
Screenshot from Clone High

19. Examples….
The most common subliminal message is S E X.

20. Examples….
• Screenshot from House
http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_ao8tv8nSTbo/S7CNO0IEifI/AAAAAAAAAiw/Sn
KvuObscDs/s1600/House+S06E05_copy.jpg

21. Examples….
• http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-
zY5Dr9d13Xk/TfvryxQlhRI/AAAAAAAAAuw/JnlDOu9_b1w/s1600/1-
01-14b1.jpg

22. Examples….
Silence of the Lambs
would be the last place
in the world to throw in
something sexy!!!
but if you zoom in on the
movie poster pictured
here, you‟ll……..
http://www.slightlywarped.co
m/crapfactory/subliminal/sile
nceofthelambs.htm

23. Subliminal message in children
entertainment
Spot the message from the
film „The Lion King‟
http://www.youtube.com/wat
ch?v=XAIdluHUZs8

24. Subliminal message in children
entertainment
http://i463.photobucke
t.com/albums/qq358/3
0PP0/tangled-1.gif

25. Example of Subliminal Advertising
Today
• In Spring of 2006, KFC ran an ad that
included this frame of a bucket of KFC
as a promotion for a coupon to get a
free chicken sandwich.
• KFC claimed that there was a 40%
increase in visitors at their website,
and that 100,000 coupons were given
out.
• ABC soon banned the commercial
because they classified it as subliminal
advertising

26. Forms of Subliminal Stimulation
Visual stimulation
using a tachistoscope
Accelerated speech in
auditory messages
Embedding of hidden
symbols

27. Example of Tachistoscope
• http://collection.eliterature.org/1/works/
poundstone__project_for_tachistoscop
e_bottomless_pit/Tachistoscope.html

28. Example of auditory
messages
• Accelerated speech in auditory messages
• Queen: Another One Bites the Dust
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ca6k7i8p9Oo
• The Beatles: Revolution #9
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JDhLTY0bUy0

29. • .
Democrats accused Republicans of using subliminal advertising as a
campaigning technique in 2000.
In an ad attacking Al Gore during the 2000 campaign for president, the
word “RATS” flashed continually in 1/20th of a second intervals in the
last 20% of the advertisement.

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

31. Subliminal marketing agenda…
- A way of targeting someone you wouldn't normally
advertise to
- A way of surpassing obvious immoral associations
whilst your are actually making those associations
with the brand

32. Summary
• Research has failed to demonstrate any reliable effects of subliminal advertising or of
other techniques of subliminal persuasion
• Despite this, other research evidence suggests that people can indeed process
information without being aware of it
• Conscious processing play only a small role in our daily thinking, feeling and doing with
most activities being essentially automatic and below awareness
• Considered ethically unacceptable