Once considered a serious threat to Americans' independence of thought and action as well as to their sanity, concern over subliminal advertising has been relegated largely to turf occupied by conspiracy theorists and academics desperately in search of thesis material. I know, because I used to fall into the latter category, and my familiarity with subliminal motivation as used in advertising is a relict of my search for a viable subject for a Masters thesis.

It has been known for centuries that seeing another person do something, or a pictorial or written reminder triggers in many cases the desire or urge to do the same thing in the observer. Advertising is based on this phenomenon. For example, seeing someone take a drink or a picture of someone drinking reminds us that we might be thirsty. Watching someone yawn frequently sets of a virtual epidemic of yawning in a group, and let's us all know that someone - probably the other guy - has been talking 'way too much.

This, however, is all on the conscious level. It is entirely possible to repress the urge to take a drink or yawn, simply because we know that we will have the urge to copy the observed behavior, and can act consciously to counter it.

The basic idea of subliminal advertising, however, is to present an idea or a concept to the recipient in a way that his or her conscious mind fails to perceive it, but the message is delivered to the subject's unconscious. This - so the theory goes - stimulates the subject to act in accordance with a stimulus that the subject is not even aware has been received.

Some authorities believe that such unconscious suggestions can force us to act against our will simply because we are not able to erect conscious defenses against them. The public can therefore be manipulated and unconsciously coerced into doing something that they otherwise would not have done.

Fortunately, this does not turn out to be the case. Evidence indicates that while an unconscious suggestion may trigger an impulse that the recipient of the suggestion is already inclined to carry out, the effects are not long lasting, and they do not cause an individual who is otherwise not inclined to act on the impulse to do so. Similarly, hypnosis, while we can do some ridiculous things while in a hypnotic trance, cannot do anything that would cause us to act against our own nature.

Subliminal advertising was intensively tested both under laboratory conditions and in the field in movie theaters. It was found that inserting something like a picture of a soft drink or the message "Drink Cola" in a single frame of a film would sometimes spur a temporary surge in sales of drinks at the refreshment stand, but that repeated insertions did not continue to increase sales, nor was there any carryover from day to day - conditioning seems to be a product of conscious, not unconscious stimuli.

Thus, if an individual is already thirsty or has already developed the habit of slurping on a soft drink while watching a film in a theater, the reminder to drink something delivered to the subject's unconscious might cause him or her to purchase a soft drink. If, however, that same individual has already satisfied his or her thirst, or is not otherwise inclined to eat or drink in a movie theater, then he or she will likely not purchase a soft drink.

Reputable behavioral scientists concluded decades ago that subliminal motivation, while interesting, does not constitute either a danger to our mental stability or to our liberty. It is simply not effective in the way or to the degree necessary to alter essential human nature or behavior.

Learn more about this author, Michael Greaney.
Click here to send author comments or questions.

---

Add your voice

Know something about How do subliminal ads work??
We want to hear your view. Write now!