So I just finished my 10 page term paper

[Dylflon]

Yep. My communications paper that has been drving me insane all week is done.

And printed. And ready to hand in.

As it was printing I actually began to laugh maniacally.

I'd feel better if I didn't have two more papers due in two weeks though.

[jeepnut]

Congratulations man. I've got a couple myself. Always feels great when one finally comes to an end.

[Dylflon]

That's my fifth paper of the semester. And was the longest and most frustrating.

Only two more to go.

[Canyarion]

Don't we get to read it? :(

[GameMaster]

Excellent work, my boy.

I have an in-class essay today, wish me luck!

[DarkMaster]

Ah, so happy am I to never have to write another paper again in my life. Good luck to all of you.

[Krypton]

holy ****, 10 pages. :WHOA:

good job.

[Typhoid]

Hey.....Hey Dylan....guess how many term papers I've done this year.



Thats right, none.

Next time you're writing one, and I'm aware, I'm going to do various things to distract you.

[DimHalo]

Yay ... i'm glad you got something marked off your list.

I've got a couple of papers to do and I have to write a bunch of unit plans for the end of the semester.

[Dylflon]

Here is the paper for those who want to read it (such as Canyarion):


Analyzing subliminal advertising:
public opinion and the capabilities of subliminal messages
Dylan Innes
Simon Fraser University


Over the past few decades, subliminal advertising has been a hot topic in discussion about marketing. Though subliminal advertising is a concept that is well known among the general public, there lacks a full understanding of what it is and what its effects are. For a proper analysis of the modern idea of subliminal advertising, it is important to look at what it is or is not able to do as well as the beliefs and knowledge of the general public on the subject. Subliminal messages have been demonized by the public, as the general understanding is that these messages lurk in advertisements and affect consumer thinking. With a lack of evidence to prove this theory, it is propelled not by proof but by speculation and enthusiasm, likening it to an urban legend. Also, widespread belief that most corporations often use subliminal messaging has been discovered to be unfounded. However, though the idea of subliminal messaging has been embellished upon, it is in fact real. Numerous research studies have been done to show the effects of subliminal stimulus on behavioral patterns and drives such as thirst, hunger, and sex. As many of those in the general public do not have a full grasp of subliminal messages and their implications, the results from most research studies are quite contrary to popular belief. There lacks evidence to back up the belief that subliminal messages can be used in advertising to manipulate the actions of consumers, or that subliminal advertising is even widely used among marketers, although there is evidence supporting that subliminal messaging can affect those subjected to it subconsciously.

In order to understand the common concept of subliminal advertising, it is important to look at what the general public believes or knows about the subject. It is true that many of the people in North America are at least aware of subliminal advertising and at least two research studies have been conducted to show what the general public knew and thought about it. In one study by Martha Rogers and Kirk H. Smith (1993) detailed in their article “Public perceptions of subliminal advertising: why practitioners shouldn’t ignore this issue”, four hundred households in the greater Toledo area were phoned at random and were presented with a survey. Out of all the people questioned, 74.3 percent reported that they had previously heard of subliminal advertising. Of the people who had heard of subliminal advertising, 61.5 percent answered “yes” when asked “Do you believe advertisers place subliminal messages in advertisements or use this technique?” 23.5 percent of the group answered “no” and the rest were uncertain. Of the people that answered “yes” to the previous question, 72.2 percent responded “yes”, 12.6 percent responded “no”, and 15.2 percent were uncertain when asked “Do you believe subliminal ads are successful?” A similar research study was performed by Nicolaos E. Synodinos (1988) and is detailed in his article “Subliminal stimulation: what does the public think?” His study was done in Honolulu and consisted of five hundred homes being phoned at random to partake in a survey. 76 percent of the people that completed the interview were reportedly aware of the idea of subliminal advertising. 77 percent of those who were aware of subliminal advertising believed that it is used by advertisers. An interesting set of statistics was revealed when the participants were asked how frequently they believed subliminal advertising was used. 7.3 percent answered “always”, 35.7 percent answered “often”, 32 percent answered “sometimes”, 8.6 percent answered “seldom”, and only one person who participated in the survey answered “never”. The other 16.3 percent answered that they did not know. On top of this, many of the people surveyed believed that subliminal advertising could lead people to buying things they wouldn’t ordinarily buy.

These statistics are even more interesting when compared to statistics taken from the opinions of people in the advertising industry. These statistics can be found in Martha Rogers and Christine Seiler’s (1994) article “The Answer is no: a national survey of advertising industry practitioners and their clients about whether they use subliminal advertising”. In the study in this article, seven hundred and fifty advertising industry and media production representatives were sent a mail survey, though only two hundred and fifty-six completed it. Suspicions of the public are correct in assuming that subliminal advertising does take place. 65.2 percent of people who responded denied knowledge of subliminal advertisement taking place at their current or former places of employment. So as 34.8 percent of people are aware of it, it is shown that it does happen but not with the frequency that many people imagine. Although, it could be said that these marketers do not quite understand what subliminal advertising is, as the same question was asked again but phrased with the literal meaning of “words, pictures, or shapes that are purposely inserted in advertising materials so that the viewers of the material cannot process the imagery at a conscious level, but rather at a subconscious level.” 90.63 percent of the people said “no” when asked this rephrased question. More than half of the people who participated believe that other companies use subliminal advertising and about half of the people believe that subliminal advertising works. The very nature of the understanding of the term is questionable as extremely different statistics were gathered when the participants were asked two questions that were semantically identical. The fact that more people denied using subliminal advertising when the term was replaced with its literal definition than did when the question was asked with just the term itself shows confusion about advertisers’ idea of what subliminal advertising is. It is possible that those who admitted to subliminal advertising are not even using real subliminal messages let alone using it in the sense of attempted behaviour control that the public has demonized subliminal messaging to be. Some of the reasons listed for not using subliminal messages ranged from “not affective” or “it is just a myth” to “it is unethical”. This shows that the belief of what subliminal messaging is and can do is quite varied among those in advertising as well as those in the general public. But the information gathered from those in the advertising industry show the belief that subliminal advertising is common practice among many corporations is unfounded.

What is also unfounded is the notion that subliminal advertising has a major effect on consumer choice behaviour. Though in order to understand this, it helps to have a basic idea of what subliminal advertising is. One explanation offered is that “subliminal advertising is a technique of exposing consumers to product pictures, brand names, or other marketing stimuli without the consumers having conscious awareness” (Trappey, 1996, p. 517). The way it is proposed to work is that “once exposed to a subliminal marketing stimulus, the consumer is believed to decode the information and act upon it without being able to acknowledge a communication source” (Trappey, 1996, p. 517). This would in theory give advertisers a whole new dimension in advertising as they could get multiple messages across to the viewer at once without disturbing the viewer’s activities. The main questions about subliminal advertisement are whether or not this exposure to stimuli affects consumer choice behaviour and whether or not they “provide advertisers with a tool to bypass consumers’ defenses without their being aware of what has happened” (Trappey, 1996, p. 518). The idea of subliminal advertising affecting consumer choice behaviour is what makes subliminal advertising so controversial in the first place. The fear that embedded images or words being able to affect what things we buy is a scary thought and could be looked on as a form of mind control. At least, this would be the case if any proof could be found that this is the effect that subliminal advertising has on a hapless audience. In a meta-analysis conducted by Charles Trappey (1996) that measured the effectiveness of subliminal stimuli in relation to consumer choice behaviour, Trappey took the results from various studies on the subject to measure just how much these subliminal stimuli affect the decisions of consumers. In his conclusion, he states that “the effects of subliminal advertising on choice behaviour are small” and that “because the cumulative effect is small, the hypothesis that subliminal advertising stimuli produce a direct choice consequence is very weakly supported” (Trappey, 1996, p. 528). He finishes by saying that “therefore, the meta-analysis conducted in this study leads to the conclusion that subliminal advertising has little influence on the consumer’s decision to select between alternatives” (Trappey, 1996, p. 528). To put it in other terms, Trappey places the effectiveness of subliminal advertising on choice between “the impact of aspirin on heart attacks and the relationship between alcohol abuse and a tour of duty in Vietnam” (Trappey, 1996, p. 517).

Though subliminal messages may not be able to affect consumer choice behaviour, research studies show evidence that subliminal messages do have an impact on people on a subconscious level. A study was done by Byrne (1959) in which two groups of subjects were shown films. The control group’s film was unaltered while the experimental group’s film contained the word “beef” flashed at 1/200 of a second. After the film, the subjects were asked to rate their hunger level and were then encouraged to select a sandwich out of a group of assorted types of sandwiches. The subjects in the experimental group were hungrier than those in the control group but they were not any more likely to select beef sandwiches. The results of this research offer insight to what subliminal advertising can actually do. A study was conducted by Del Hawkins in 1970 with the hypothesis that a subliminal stimulus could activate or enhance a physiological drive if the stimulus and drive were strongly associated. This study was conducted much like Byrne’s but with a different hypothesis. Whereas Byrne’s research dealt with stimuli pertaining to hunger, Hawkins’ research dealt with stimuli pertaining to thirst. In Hawkins’ experiment, four groups were to watch films under the pretense that the study was for establishing recognition thresholds for various automotive brand names. Group one was the control group and subliminally received a nonsense syllable throughout their film. The second group received a nonsense syllable but had to repeat the word “Coke” aloud five times. Groups three and four were presented with subliminal messages, group three with the word “Coke”, and group four with the command “Drink Coke”. Each group was presented with their respective messages forty times throughout the span of about fifteen minutes. Afterwards, subjects partook in a survey in which one of the questions inquired about their last fluid intake and how thirsty they were on a seven point scale. The group that was exposed to the nonsense syllable showed lower levels of thirst than that of the other three groups. These findings are important as they show evidence that subliminal messages do have an effect on us at a subconscious level, but only increase the drives they pertain to. Also they do not affect the way we act as consumers.

Other studies have shown the effects of subliminal messages on attitude and behaviour. In a research study conducted by Lloyd Silverman (1976), an apparatus used for brief exposure of visual stimuli known as a tachistoscope was used to present messages to two groups of depressives. The control group was shown the message “Thinking People” while the experimental group was shown the message “Destroy Mother”. Self-ratings of depression levels in the two groups were taken and the experimental group was shown to have increased ratings while the control group was more or less unaffected. In another study by Schurtman, Palmatier, and Martin (1982), two groups of alcoholics were exposed to two different subliminal messages. An experimental group was exposed to the message “mommy and I are one” and the control group was shown the message “people are walking”. The results from a three month follow-up to the experiment showed the participants had decreased levels of anxiety and depression, increased self image and reduced alcohol consumption. Research studies like these and numerous others in the same vein give further evidence of the effects subliminal messages have on the mind.

The general opinion of the public shows subliminal messaging in unrealistic way as indicated in research by Nicolaos Synodinos (1988). The idea of subliminal advertising being able to effect our actions as consumers have been shown to be unfounded in research studies and the meta-analysis by Trappey (1996). Also, the notion of frequent use of subliminal advertising was shown to be unsupported in the research done by Rogers and Seiler (1994). Most people in the advertising industry who partook in the survey denied using subliminal messages when the concept was presented in its literal meaning of “words, pictures, or shapes that are purposely inserted in advertising materials so that the viewers of the material cannot process the imagery at a conscious level, but rather at a subconscious level”. The result of the studies by Trappey (1996), and by Rogers and Seiler (1994) provide good evidence against the notions of the public presented in the studies by Synodinos (1988), and by Rogers and Smith (1993). However, other research studies have shown evidence that subliminal messages do have an effect on their audience. As subliminal messages can affect behaviour, attitude, and drive as shown in the studies by Byrnes (1959), Hawkins (1970), Silverman (1976), and Schurtman, Palmatier, and Martin (1982), there is a possibility that a more advanced subliminal message could more strongly affect brand preference or consumer behaviour. It seems that these subliminal messages would need to be far more sophisticated and perhaps be honed to target a specific group. For now though, there is insufficient evidence to back up the idea that subliminal advertising has any strong effect on consumer behaviour.


References:
Rogers, M., & Smith, K. H. (1993). Public Perceptions of subliminal advertising: why practitioners shouldn’t ignore this issue. Journal of Advertising Research, 33(2), 10-19.

Synodinos, N. E. (1988). Subliminal stimulation: what does the public think about it? Current Issues and Research in Advertising, 11(2), 157-187.

Rogers, M., & Seiler, C. A. (1994). The answer is no: a national survey of advertising industry practitioners and their clients about whether they use subliminal advertising. Journal of Advertising Research, 34(2), 36-48.

Trappey, C. (1996). A meta-analysis of consumer choice and subliminal advertising. Psychology & Marketing, 13(5), 517-530.

Byrne, D. (1959). The effect of a subliminal food stimulus on verbal responses. Journal of Applied Psychology, 43(4), 245-252.

Hawkins, D. (1970). The effects of subliminal stimulation on drive level and brand preference. Journal of Marketing Research, 7, 322-326.

Silverman, L. (1976). Psychoanalytic theory: The reports of my death are greatly exaggerated. American Psychologist, 31(9), 621-637.

Schurtman, R., Palmatier, J., & Martin, E. (1982). On the activation of symbiotic gratification fantasies as an aid in the treatment of alcoholics. Journal of the Addictions, 17(7), 1157-1174.

[Joeiss]

I have three midterms this week. Thursday, Friday and Saturday. I also have an Aerosmtih concert on Friday night, haha.

[Swan]

Hey.....Hey Dylan....guess how many term papers I've done this year.



Thats right, none.

Next time you're writing one, and I'm aware, I'm going to do various things to distract you.
SEX ON THE BED!

[Dylflon]

If anyone reads my paper, feel free to give me some feedback.

[Canyarion]

I immediately missed headlines (I don't think this is the word I mean), like 'introduction', 'conclusion' etc.
Oh, you should probably put the references in alphabetic order. :)

On a sidenote: I'd like to know what this is about: The reports of my death are greatly exaggerated :D

[DarrenMcLeod]

I'm about to finish up my 2000 word paper on Chaucer's Wife of Bath's Prologue and Milton's Paradise Lost, and how their distortions of the Bible work against the female characters of the stories, or something like that.

[Dyne]

I have a fourteen-page paper on the Simpsons in cultural and pop icons soon.

And that's it for papers for me this semester.

[Canyarion]

I have a (small) thesis to complete my bachelor. About 20 pages I think. So far I've only read into it and almost completed the introduction.

[GiMpY-wAnNaBe]

I have an 8 page philosophy Metaphysics paper due in some time. I have yet to actually pick a topic yet.

[Dyne]

Guys, I feel like a bastard.

I just got my Cognition for Design essay back. My topic was a machine that basically automated driving. On the front I knowingly "dedicated" that my friend passed away - but I didn't really say how he was killed (it was suicide).

So I got it back today, with the highest mark on the class, and a note from the instructor herself, who wasn't even marking, talking about how she lost her brother or something in a car accident.

Anyways, that's my confession. So yeah, 25/30. Not bad for a paper done overnight! I finished at 3 am, too! Yeah, bitches.

[GameMaster]

Today my last paper for my English was due (aside from perhaps an in-class paper for the final?). It was worth two standard essay grades. I started writing last night at midnight (technically this morning) and finished at 5:00 A.M. Then I woke up at 10:15 to print and proof read. I busted out 8 pages and 2,600 words of which I'm quite proud. Not for the sense of accomplishment or effort but for being able to once again shaft the system with procrastination. Take that students who plan ahead and work on a papers for several days!

Anyway, it was on a book titled, The Kite Runner. We had to discuss the story and also find connections to it with the other readings and mini essays we've read in class.

There is way I'm going to be able to stay awake at 4:00 this afternoon when we watch a movie in film class.