Accurate or Misleading?
How high these standards actually are, in some respects, you can judge after you have considered the correspondence below and the various semi-subliminal and manipulative ads illustrated throughout this Web site. Bear in mind that, as a profession, advertisers feel free to make use of any techniques that the public accept and only concede ground in the face of public and political pressure and the likelihood that they will be subject to government legislation. The ASA, in fact, evolved because of the desire of advertising professionals to avoid compulsory legislation, not through any inherent desire on the part of advertising professionals to limit their techniques to those which consumers would find acceptable. The ASA ads you see in this section and elsewhere on this Web site thus make a virtue out of what is a necessity. Whilst the ASA operates in the interests of the consumer, one should also bear in mind that the ASA Code of Advertising is an instrument for the advertising profession and largely managed by advertising profesionals. There
are clearly ads many ads which the public would find unacceptable.
Yet not all of them are open to scrutiny, as this Web site indicates.
Yet many of these are tacitly Even if they did, it is unlikely that anything would be done about them - as the correspondence reproduced on Part II of this page indicates. This negative view is also supported by a careful reading of the Code of Advertising. There it is evident that manipulative, semi-subliminal, advertising does not fall under the remit of the ASA. Yet, if the ASA exists to protect the consumer from unethical advertising, to ensure that ads are 'open and above board', then manipulative advertising surely ought to be one of their concerns. The only arguments in favour of ignoring semi-subliminal advertising are the traditional arguments initially noted on the Ads from the Archives page i.e. that such advertising (usually erroneously labelled subliminal advertising) does not exist, and, if it does, it is ineffective. There is uncertainty in academic circles as to whether or not semi-subliminal advertising is influential. However, there has been insufficient research in this field for one to pay too much attention to the statements of most commentators and researchers. On the other hand, advertising agencies and their major clients have assiduously used this type of technique for at least a decade. If the relevant ad agencies and their clients do not yet know whether semi-subliminal advertising is effective then the entire populations of the USA and the UK are the guinea pigs in their ongoing 'studies'. Given the extensive usage of semi-subliminal elements in cigarette advertising, there is undoubtedly a mass of data in the archives of tobacco companies, if not in those of advertising and marketing departments of major ad agencies and other client companies. Disclosure of this information would leave consumers in no doubt as to whether or not manipulative advertising of the sort illustrated on this Web site influences people without their being aware of the influences. The denials that emanate from agencies such as the ASA, IPA and AAAA are either uninformed or misleading. It is time for the advertising agencies and their clients to come clean about their attempts at manipulation or acknowledge that some agencies, at least, make use of unethical techniques. And for organisations such as the ASA to become less of self serving bodies, whose interests would primarily seem to be ensuring that legislation does not cramp the style of advertising professionals, rather than serving the interests of the consumer and society in general. Such goals might seem to be too much too ask. However, if they are, why are they already enshrined in principle in the Standards of Practice of the ASA, AAAA and other bodies. Guidelines, of course, need to be backed up with penalties if the public - and members of the profession - are to be convinced that they should be taken seriously. Will action be taken in the light of the examples presented later on this page and elsewhere on this site? Only the future will tell.
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Right or Partly Right?
So far, so good. However, this ad did not simply promote excessively speedy driving, it also promoted aggressive driving. This aspect of the ad was completely overlooked by the ASA, yet it is probable that the semi-subliminal content helped convince the ASA members that this otherwise innocuous ad was unacceptable, just as it was intended to influence susceptible viewers of the ad. View
the 'splash' on the left hand side of the ad. Seemingly
'here one moment and gone the next', states the caption.
The car that produced the 'splash' has disappeared from the scene.
However, what has not gone are the semi-subliminal 'faces' incorporated
into the 'splash'. As may be perceived in the full size Some
of these faces may be perceived as aggressive in nature, emphasizing
the fact that excessive speed is usually ssociated with aggressive,
bumper to bumper, driving. These screen images are of relatively
low resolution compared to the original printed ad. Viewers who
are unable to discern the Viewers
may have found the discussion above somewhat speculative. However,
there are a number of sources of evidence that support the author's
contentions. The basic elements necessary for facial recognition
can be found in the Much more obvious than the 'faces' in the 'splash' is the skull of a cow, reminiscent of the longhorn cattle found in westerns. This 'skull' would be the first aspect of the ad that a viewer saw as they turned over the preceding magazine page. One does not need too much imagination to recognise the message that is intended to be conveyed by the 'skull'. Semi-subliminal
content such as this would seem intended to appeal, unconsciously
or preconsciously, to Single
page variants of this ad (see left) did not include the dead cow's
skull but managed to emphasize death in the In conclusion, it would seem that this - and other Peugeot ads - are produced on the basis of an assumption (or market research evidence) that an emotional response to this type of secondary imagery in ads would help ensure that Peugeot vehicles 'stood out' in the mind of potential car purchasers. Given the knowledge that major car manufacturers and their advertising agencies have of their typical customers (their psychographic profile) it seems improbable that Peugeot produced this and other semi-subliminal images accidentally. This view is demonstrated by consideration of other ads for Peugeot vehicles on the French Connection page. The ASA's role On this occasion the ASA got it right and asked for the withdrawal of this ad. On at least one other occasion regarding Peugeot ads they have asked for an ad to be withdrawn. But only partly for the right reasons. And all such ads are unlikely to be withdrawn. There is a more recent ad in the same series, unlikely to be banned, even though it promotes the same, covert, aggressive, 'speedy' message, as the 'skull' and 'faces' ad to be found on the AdsMonth page. Note that, although this second ad also contains an embedded 'face', this time it seems to be confronting the viewer who identifies with the car racing across a bridge. It thus offers a 'challenge' to the potential speeding motorist rather than an inducement to speed for the sake of speed. Another Peugeot ad on a different theme also fell foul of the ASA and made their Top 10. Again one can note that there is more to this ad than initially meets the eye and was acknowledged by the ASA but you will probably have to await the sequel to Sexy, Subliminal and Deadly? The Psychology of Manipulative Advertising (in preparation) to find out exactly what this is. Bear in mind that this time the Peugeot ad is intended to produce a more socially acceptable asssociation between Peugeot and motivational forces. This contrasts markedly with the risk-taking, aggressive driving and death related anxiety of the previous ad. Keep this in mind and you may find the solution.
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Honest, Legal, Decent and Truthful? In Part II of this page viewers will find reproductions of the text of two background briefing papers from the Advertising Standards Authority. The first relates to the functioning of the ASA, the second to the ASA's policy towards cigarette and tobacco advertising. Also in Part II are a couple of extracts from the ASA code regarding alcohol advertising. In Part III is the text of a reply from Steve Ballinger of the ASA to a request for information about any complaints the ASA had received about 'subliminal' advertising. No such complaints have ever been received, other than one from the author. See also an associated page for correspondence with the Institute of Practitioners in Advertising (IPA), the professional 'parent' body of the ASA. This offers their views on the subject of 'subliminal' advertising. And there is also correspondence with the American Association of Advertising Agencies (AAAA). Given the nature of ads containing embedded imagery or messages at a semi-subliminal level, the lack of complaints recorded by the ASA indicates that these potentially contentious elements are difficult to perceive. However, in most instances in which secondary imagery is used, even if noted by lay members of the public, the relevant ads do not seem to clearly breach any of the ASA's four principles i.e. that 'All advertising should be legal, decent, honest and truthful.' One would not therefore expect them to take any action. However,
one subsidiary factor noted in ASA briefing sheets is that ads should
not bring the advertising profession into disrepute. The author
hopes that publicizing the relatively widespread use of unethical
elements in such ads will indeed bring the advertising profession
into disrepute and 'force' it to modify its vetting procedures.
In addition, where cigarette adverts are concerned, given that these
are vetted by the ASA before publication, there is a second major
issue that the ASA needs to address if it is to retain public respect.
Given the general attitude towards encouraging anti-social and unhealthy
practices such as cigarette smoking, it is unlikely that members
of the ASA who vet such ads would knowingly approve Read these pages in due course for an update on this matter and find out if the ASA logo returns to normal.
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Last Revised: 20th September, 2001 |