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The public:
Many people have a fear of subliminal messages and are paranoid that they are being used in advertisements to manipulate people. In a survey conducted by psychologists Martha Rogers and Kirk H. Smith, they discovered that "74.3% of respondents reported having heard of the concept of subliminal advertising, and 61.5% believed that the technique was being used by advertisers" (Rogers and Smith).
However some people who are not researchers have discovered that a lot of subliminal messages are not very effective in advertisements, and that some subliminal advertisements can simply be interpretations.
August Bullock:
As mentioned in the counterargument, August Bullock believes that there is a lot of subliminal message use in advertisements. He claims that it is "extremely common" and he even has many books that analyze the use of subliminal messages in media such as The Secret Sales Pitch: An Overview of Subliminal Advertising . He believes that the use of subliminal advertising is very prevalent in advertisements because "the competitive pressures of the marketplace force them to use subliminal techniques.’’ He associates subliminal messages with many images that may not even contain them.
Jason Murphy and Brian Brushwood
(hosts of The Modern Rogue):
(hosts of The Modern Rogue):
Brian Brushwood and Jason Murphy, hosts of The Modern Rogue, considered a type of subliminal message called backmasking. Backmasking involves messages being inserted into reversed audio. They were able to suggest how easy it is to interpret words into reversed audio. First they played reversed audio without any text on the screen, and it sounded like a bunch of indistinguishable words and sounds. After that they played the reversed audio again and wrote the text “Oh Satan, to the end, You shall last until the end,” and it actually sounded exactly like those words. (The Modern Rogue 4:49) They claimed that this is because of priming, where a factor influences the response to something else. Even though a message can sound completely incomprehensible, someone can find patterns in the words to form their own perceptions of what they think the message can mean.
Advertisers:
Many advertisers try to avoid the use of subliminal advertising because of the public's fear of subliminal messages and the FCC's regulation of subliminal messaging. Although some people think that it's effective a lot of advertisers believe that the risk is higher than the reward. According to William M O'Barr, a anthropologist professor and author of Culture and the Ad: Exploring Otherness in the World of Advertising, claims that "It makes little sense that the company would intentionally use a technique that seems not to produce significant market behavior results and is so widely despised by the public."(O'Barr)
Many advertisers try to avoid the use of subliminal messages and if they're ever caught using them they claim that they are purely coincidental. When Pepsi was caught using subliminal messages on their soda cans, Pepsi's spokesman Tod Mackenzie immediately claimed that it was "nothing more than an odd coincidence" and that consumers chose that design over 100 of other cans. Although no one knows if this message was intentionally implemented or not, many advertising agencies want to avoid subliminal messages so they don't get backlash from consumers.
Sprite:
During Sprite's "Sublymonal Advertising," Sprite released advertisements that tried to mock the use of subliminal messages. Although this advertisement doesn't actually contain subliminal messages, it appears as if it does contain subliminal messages. This made the advertisement appear unique and artistic. Since many people think of subliminal messages as controlling and mysterious, they used this to elicit fear, confusion, and a response from consumers. They benefited from the public's attitudes of subliminal messages by creating a provocative commercial.
Researchers:
Many Researchers are trying to push the extent of control of subliminal messages. They do this by finding methods in which subliminal messages can be more influential and effective.
Other researchers consider the limitations that subliminal messages have. As mentioned earlier subliminal messages are only influential in certain conditions.
Other researchers consider the limitations that subliminal messages have. As mentioned earlier subliminal messages are only influential in certain conditions.
Conditions Where Subliminal
Messages Are Influential
Gráinne M. Fitzsimons:
In a study performed by Gráinne M. Fitzsimons, an associate professor at Duke University, when participants were flashed with the Apple logo, they were able to find more uses out of a brick than participants flashed with the IBM logo. Subliminal messages were able to strongly influence behavior and show that logo images have different effects on people. Since most people associate Apple with creativity and innovation, people who were subliminally primed with the Apple logo were able to think more creatively. Similarly, participants flashed with the Disney logo were more sincere and honest than participants who were flashed with the E! Logo. Since Disney values honesty and sincerity, people who were exposed to the Disney logo were more honest and sincere. This method relies on how people perceive images, specifically the qualities that the images are associated with. Fitzsimons claims "that brands have the power to automatically elicit changes in behavior"(Fitzsimons 33)
Conditions Where Subliminal
Messages aren't Influential
Laura Smarandescu:
Messages aren't Influential
Laura Smarandescu:
As mentioned earlier, Laura Smarandescu, performed an experiment and discovered that subliminal messages were only influential in certain conditions. In her experiment, only 17% of non-thirsty participants drank Powerade after the subliminal prime. Also 15 minutes after the flash of the word Drawepoe the percent of people who drank Powerade dropped from 52% to 25%. As a result Smarandescu claims that "the persuasive effects of subliminal priming may be limited to measures taken shortly after participants have been exposed to subliminal primes," and when people have a need for the product (Smarandescu 725).
Images From(Top to bottom)
https://www.yelp.com/biz/august-bullock-law-office-san-jose-2
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ch72UY7pdz4
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8WPdUcJ0ys0
https://hollyhuxley.wordpress.com/2014/04/08/mark217-subliminal-perception/
http://logos.wikia.com/wiki/Sprite
http://www.fuqua.duke.edu/faculty_research/faculty_directory/fitzsimons-grainne/
http://www.iowastatedaily.com/news/article_5aba56ee-1494-11e7-a4ba-730ba3dcdf07.html
https://www.yelp.com/biz/august-bullock-law-office-san-jose-2
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ch72UY7pdz4
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8WPdUcJ0ys0
https://hollyhuxley.wordpress.com/2014/04/08/mark217-subliminal-perception/
http://logos.wikia.com/wiki/Sprite
http://www.fuqua.duke.edu/faculty_research/faculty_directory/fitzsimons-grainne/
http://www.iowastatedaily.com/news/article_5aba56ee-1494-11e7-a4ba-730ba3dcdf07.html