Subliminal Advertising

Subliminal Advertising

Advertising is a good tool for communication. Some believe that subliminal advertising can be used to persuade people to use more products. The debate comes from scrutiny on if subliminal advertising works or not. It is my belief that subliminal advertising works well and manipulates people. I believe this because subliminal advertising works because it plays to peoples hope, fear, and sexuality.

Every component of an ad is carefully constructed and placed, sometimes deceptively. Subliminal advertising plays on the fact that our subconscious minds see them while consciously we ignore them (classroomtools.com). This means that images and illusions in advertisements can not be seen but we understand them in our subconscious minds. Many subliminal advertisements play on death and sexuality in advertisements because it is of human interest; we are usually encouraged to repress our questions and fears about both sex and death, often to the detriment of our mental health and personal relationships. Key asserts that advertisers know this, and use it to manipulate us subconsciously (class room tools.com).

Subliminal advertisements are presented in ads as either symbolic which means plainly visible, but with a meaning that producers believe will be psychologically repressed by the target audience or embedded which are hidden from conscious perception artistically. Embeds are the most controversial, the most expensive to create and the least common (classroomtools.com). Subliminal advertising was first discussed in the 1950's when Vance Packard made passing reference to a New Jersey cinema that flashed split-second ads during regular screenings. These ads said "Eat Popcorn" and "Drink Coca-Cola" were invisible to the naked eye but supposedly influenced viewers subconsciously (McLaren). These ads supposedly made movie theatre guest to consume more popcorn and soda than at a usual showing.

Subliminal advertising works well it has been proven to be a force to deal with. The United States government has even placed bans on subliminal advertising right after the news of