Subliminal Advertising

To sell products, merchants consciously use subliminal advertising as a basis for general consumerism. This seems like an unnecessary task, but when taken into consideration all the people, who have expressed their disbelief in its effectiveness, it is obvious to see how vital and necessary such a task commands. Through this, corporations must take on new strategies and methods of persuasion and justification. The importance is that advertisers rely on a trust relationship with consumers in order to successfully subliminally sell products. In other words, those who don't believe in subliminal advertising, are its likely victims.

The effect of subliminal advertising on the individual and the culture has been influenced and promoted by many different elements. Let it be magazines, newspapers or radio; but the most prominent in this field is television. Television advertising influences the choices we make, perhaps more so than anyone cares to believe. It may not be so obvious, but even teachers face competition with advertising. Television stations, for example, have some four billion dollars a year from industry to spend on programming for the same students that teacher’s face.

Flash messaging is a common technique where a viewer is influenced by quick images and messages for a very short period of time. The subconscious registers this almost like it never occurred. All of this is pleasing to the eye; flashy colour, or a picture with a sexual innuendo. Another factor would be KISS (Keep It Sweet & Simple). All of these affect the success of the ad and the final result for the product at hand.

A more cunning way to influence the buyer is to target your emotions. To question yourself is most successful for an advertiser. Although seeing sick hungry children living in a run down village in some 3rd world country may lead to your donating money, there are some ethics involved in purposely tampering with one’s emotions. Through all of this, this method of persuasion is most effective.

A technique usually described as using “buzz words” is found more in prints than on television or radio. If we are scrolling through a newspaper and we see an exciting flashy word, our eyes tend to draw towards it. Companies are entirely aware of this, so that is why they flash words on their ads like, "FREE," "NEW," "HURRY." Something about these words makes the reader want to see what the fuss is all about, and to read the company's ad. Not always will there be "buzz words" embedded into the ad that look flashy. They may not have any significant meaning, but they are added in and seem successful in relaying the message. Words like, homemade, improved, 100%, tasty, and the list goes on