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 Vicary’s 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

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%

• Vicary’s experiment was never successfully replicated

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

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 Gilbey’s Gin ad?

Why the fascination?

• The prospect of “mind control” is frightening

• It’s 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

Methodological shortcomings

• lack of control groups• lack of double-blind

procedures• possibility of bias or cueing• lack of replication• lack of rigorous “blind”

review

Definitions and conceptualizations

• 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

The middle years: Embedded images and text

• Embedded images and text are subliminal messages

• This ad for Tanqueray allegedly contains a phallic symbol.

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

• Product placement is a form of supraliminal persuasion

• Subtle, perhaps, but not subliminal

More phallic imagery, but by no means subliminal

• Subtle, but not subliminal

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

• Modern cinema relies on product placement to offset production costs.

• Some movies an TV shows parody product placement– Austin Powers– Josie and the Pussycats– Truman Show

A key distinction

• 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

• Commercial applications of subliminal priming have not been demonstrated.– Flashing

“Starbucks” will not make a consumer buy that brand of coffee

Paparazzi help sell Starbucks through “buzz” marketing or word-of-mouth (WOM) marketing

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

Embedded images: Now you see ‘em, now you don’t

• 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 2000 presidential campaign, Republicans ran a campaign ad that included the highlighted the word “RATS” in the larger word “DEMOCRATS.”

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

Embedded images in Disney movies

• The Little Mermaid– A circumcized

sandcastle?– The artist who

painted this scene claimed the resemblance to a phallic symbol was unintentional

More Disney embedding

• The Rescuers Down Under (who’s in the window?)

• Little Mermaid: boney knee?

• The Lion King: S E X ?

More embedding…

• Pall Mall cigarettes and embedding?– Some claim

that the banner on the bottom of the Kent cigarette package shows two KKK Klansmen

• Pepsi and embedding– The graphics on

the cans line up to form the word “SEX”

Embedding as a conspiracy theory

• Examples of embedded images appear to be isolated cases– The incidents

appear to be pranks rather than organized marketing strategies.

– The mere existence of subliminals does not prove their effectiveness.

What advertisers reallyreally 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 as possible.

Why product placement is so popular

• Viewers can flip past commercials or “zap” them using TIVO– product planting can’t 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 season’s worth of placements costs $200,000 (Law & Braun, 2000)

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, 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

Unintentional product placement

Clinton drinking Coke during his videotaped deposition

Nike’s swoosh logo on suicide victims from the Heaven’s Gate cult

Recent subliminal research: Eureka! They found it.

• “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).

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A sample subliminal priming study

• Patton (1992) exposed “normal” and “bulimia prone” females to one of three subliminal messages:– “Mama is leaving me”– “Mona is loaning it”– “Mama is loaning it.”

• Afterward, the females were invited to participate in a taste-test involving crackers.

• The “bulimia prone” females who were exposed to the maternal separation message (“Mama is leaving me”) ate twice as many crackers as the females in the other two groups.

Subliminal priming can affect attitudes

• Graham & Lowery (2004): Subliminal priming can activate negative racial stereotypes– police officers were exposed

subliminal primes embodying negative stereotypes of African Americans

– Next, all the officers were presented with a hypothetical scenario involving a criminal defendant.

– The primed group attributed more negative traits to the defendant, found him more culpable, and favored a stiffer sentence compared to the control group.

Subliminal priming can alter behavior

• Winkielman, Berridge, & Wilbarger (2005): Subliminal priming can alter behavior– Exposed participants to subliminal images

of happy or angry faces– Participants then tasted a new, lemon-

lime flavored drink. – After reporting how thirsty they were,

they were told to drink as much as they wanted.

– Participants exposed to happy faces consumed more than twice as much—but only if they were already thirsty

– Priming may act as a “trigger,” but only if there is a prior need, goal or drive.

Cautions regarding subliminal priming effects

• Effects of priming are short-lived• The subliminal prime must still be

perceived, even if perception is without awareness

• No proof of commercial viability

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 aren’t subliminals everywhere)