The reference to SEX in ice cubes does, of course, hark back to the work of Wilson Key and his analysis of a Gilbey's Gin ad. The subject of sex in ice cubes also became quite salient for Jack Haberstroh. As noted in part of a discussion of ads from theAmerican Association of Advertising Agencies, Ice Cube Sex became part of a title of Haberstroh's book on the subject of 'subliminal' advertising. But where O.B. Drake's article is concerned it is simply a distractor from the principle embedded imagery. Rather than being a criticism of embedded or subliminal ads this ad from the AAAA actually contains a covert endorsement that many members of the AAAA probably did not notice. See the AAAA pages for some correspondence on this subject.
More typical of academic articles from researchers interested in subliminal advertising, but apparently having little insight into the true nature of the subject matter, is this paper by Martha Rogers and Kirk Smith. They produced a scholarly review of the literature and drew the unsurprising conclusion that practitioners should not disregard the publics perceptions regarding this form of advertising - even though it 'does not exist' in reality. Another
article by Martha Rogers and Christine Seiler reported on a survey
of advertising practitioners. The title of the article is self explanatory.
Rather naively It
is noteworthy, in the light of the problems with terminology discussed
elsewhere
on this site,
Another study that used the medium of TV to present a subliminal message was reported in the magazine Nature. The intro to that article is reproduced below. The conclusion indicated that the message had no effect. This type of result, along with other negative results, has been extrapolated to cover all advertising, including printed media. This extrapolation does not seem justified given the major differences between electronic and printed media and the manner in which viewers make use of their sources of information.
Gardner points out, quite reasonably, that it is possible to perceive almost any feature in textures surfaces if one looks long enough. Artists have long been recommended to use this technique to train their 'mind's eye'. However, the fact the people have no difficulty in perceiving a man's face on the surface of the moon does not mean that the perception of a similar face in an advert is based on equivalent cues. The cues for the perception of the Man in the Moon were laid down by nature over many millennium and are simply chance arrangements of physical features (see the entry under Pareidolia in the Glossary) In contrast, when one views any of the 'faces' embedded in ads and pointed out by the author of this site the likelihood is that most, if not all, of these 'faces' were produced with mischievious if not manipulative intention in mind. They are not the outcome of randomly placed features as is the Man in the Moon and the 'face' on Mars, etc. Their 'recognition' is based on cues provided in carefully crafted artwork. See for example the manipulation which took place to the features of the moon's surface to present a more 'meaningful' image of a 'man on the moon' in a Marlboro Ultra cigarette ad from Germany. It requires very few basic features to recognize a face as is indicated on the Faces page. Nor does it require a great many features to introduce the word Sex or any of the other images noted on this site. People are remarkably good at identifying objects on the basis of limited cues. And we learn to make the most of limited information. Artists, cartoonists and others are acknowledged as experts at providing viewers with the necessary cues. In most cases such presentations are overt and one can but wonder at the skill of the cartoonist or caricaturist in conveying meaningful representations using a few lines. In adverts, however, artists create images that are often on the borderline of perceptual ability. In such cases, one can only wonder at the depth to which some commercial organizations sink in their search for profitability. |
A
few additional commentators present reasoned summaries of research
into Shimp,
is another textbook author who takes a similar
line. He again offers an
accurate summary but still overlooks the fact
that ads do not function
in the same
|
The most appropriate means of establishing with a degree of scientific validity that 'subliminal' ads do exist would be to carry out a content analysis of relevant ads, provided an acceptable definition of 'subliminal' advertising was agreed upon. As the general consensus of opinion is that such ads do not exist, the present web pages are intended to help change this erroneous viewpoint. The ultimate aim is to encourage social scientists, linguists, art critics, and others to focus on advertising rather than experimental studies. Once there is acceptance that 'semi-subliminal advertising' exists and a body of evidence is publicly available then more systematic studies can be undertaken using the common experimental, observational and analytical tools of the social sciences. These studies could establish who produces these ads, why they do so, what psychological processes might be involved and who might be affected. There is still a considerable way to go towards acceptance by professional bodies that semi-subliminal advertising exists and identifying who the 'major players' in this field are. As the introduction indicated, this set of web pages can only present a simplified version of the book Sexy, Subliminal and Deadly?: The psychology of manipulative advertising (in preparation). The ads presented may not be sexy, they are certainly not subliminal and they may not be deadly. But without appropriate evidence the first and third of these propositions cannot be asserted with confidence. The authors whose conclusions are commented upon above have not studied PRINTED ADVERTISING and yet they, like most professionals, presume that printed ads operate in exactly the same way as the material used in isolated experimental studies, on TV and on audio tapes. Printed advertising does not, in fact, impact on people in this fashion and viewers often require repeated exposure to the same ads or variations on the same theme before any effect is found. An understanding of what is commercially effective may be much more relevant to an understanding of 'subliminal' advertising than experimental conclusions drawn on the basis of studies that have little ecological validity. If experimenters wish to ensure their pronouncements are valid they need to produce evidence equivalent to the commercial evidence held by Philip Morris, R.J.Reynolds, BAT and others. Calling Philip Morris! Your evidence is wanted! Open your relevant archives. |
Quick Links to other sites referred to in the discussion material on this page. |
Last Revised: 3rd January, 2003 |