Despite the toll of human suffering left in the wake of smoking, ad agencies have rarely turned down money from tobacco companies. Their justification is simple, 'If it's legal, it's OK to advertise it.' That their actions may lead to the early deaths of many thousands, if not millions, of smokers is seemingly not among their concerns. Other
branches of the media have also enhanced social pressures on young people
to smoke. Hollywood financiers have gleefully accepted money from
tobacco companies for The
primary vehicle for conveying a message of social acceptability about
cigarette smoking is the printed media. Another is sport and recreational
promotions. Marlboro remains top gun in the promotion stakes. Advertising
executives have a very strong association with those responsible for
the promotion of Have
you ever noticed the extent to which magazines promoting
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It is clear that if tobacco companies can hush up research findings that are clearly pertinent to the health and welfare of millions of individuals, then they should have little difficulty in keeping to themselves research into the effectiveness of the semi-subliminal and other manipulative components in their adverts. The contents list of adverts on this site indicates without a shadow of a doubt that tobacco companies and their advertising agencies are the most common source of manipulative and semi-subliminal advertising. The ad profession despite their links with the tobacco industry is, admittedly, in a different league to the tobacco companies. But the techniques that seem so useful to the tobacco industry seem to be spreading even although, in the author's view, semi-subliminal advertising is not as common as some early writers on the subject have contended. Nevertheless its use has spread. Ads for the car company Peugeot and for Pirelli tyres are, for example, every bit as sophisticated as those of Marlboro. Each set of ads also show an appreciation of the psychology of their customers. Whether
the proliferation of such advertising has been because of the gradual
spread of And here lies the dilemma. To date, very little research has surfaced that could justify the extent to which tobacco companies and their advertising agencies make use of semi-subliminal elements in their ads. One can only conclude therefore that the tobacco companies have carried out their own research and found it to be commercially effective, even if it has not been noticeably effective within the limitations of traditional laboratory experiments. If one were seeking to pinpoint a radio beacon, the best means of determining its location would be to use the process known as triangulation i.e. detecting the source from a number of different locations and zeroing in on the source. Similarly, one can point out a variety of factors relevant to semi-subliminal advertising and manipulative advertising. Each may only provide one limited source of evidence. Together they all 'hone in' on the core issue and can be used as a basis for determining whether or not tobacco companies use semi-subliminal advertising. |
A
recent book by John Philip Jones on Advertising Organizations and
Publications This
standard line of defence has continued for years. Ads from the AAAA
demonstrate that members of the advertising profession were aware of
the techniques many years, even if they Instead, the advertising world continuing to foster public misconceptions that 'subliminal' advertising does not exist. And, if it does exist, then it is not effective. Such arguments go against the grain of people's experiences, even if that experience has not been consciously attended to. The public continue to believe in the phenomenon even though they cannot offer any examples. Such persistence of belief in the absence of evidence seemingly justifies calls from some researchers to classify 'subliminal' advertising alongside pseudo-sciences such as parapsychology. However, the examples provided on this web site lead to opposite conclusions and also indicate why members of the lay public have difficulty in identifying such ads. Only the careful analysis of ads can help one identify the key features. And, additionally, only persistence over a period of time can lead to identification of those areas of advertising in which semi-subliminal techniques are consistently used. The need to do more than superficially look at ads is the most likely reason for psychologists failing to consider the study of advertising as ripe for investigation. If any profession is in a position to demonstrate that 'subliminal' advertising' worked' that profession would be that of experimental psychology. However, given that there is a strong professional current promoting the notion that 'subliminal' advertising does not exist, no self respecting psychologist interested in pure theoretical research would consider studying the subject. It is, naturally, impossible to study a phenomenon that does not exist. But what if it did exist? What then? A first step towards making the invisible skeletons in the advertising cupboard visible is to provide categories of information and appropriate terminology. Previous classification systems e.g. a fourfold breakdown of different presentation techniques offered by Anthony Pratkanis in an article in Psychology and Marketing in 1988, considered Subthreshold stimuli, masked stimuli, unattended stimuli and figurally transformed stimuli. This terminology is very appropriate to laboratory studies, involving the presentation of visual and auditory stimuli for very short periods of time, using devices such as tachistoscopes or computers (see FAQS for additional information). Printed adverts, unlike television and movie commercials that are generally not recorded by members of the public for later scrutiny, are available for whatever period of time the viewer wishes to look at them (usually very short). Additionally, print advertising is almost invariably part of a lengthy promotional exercise, extending over many years and sometimes decades in the case of well known brands. These are major distinction that are rarely acknowledged in the academic literature. It is therefore unlikely that the conclusions based on episodic laboratory studies can be extrapolated to print advertising. The author has attempted to further the goal of identifying categories of information in print advertising by distinguishing between subliminal advertising and manipulative advertising and certain other categories of problematical advertising. This classification system is presented below. It bears some similarity to Pratkanis' classification scheme and the overlap is noted in a footnote at the the conclusion of this section. At
one end of the print continuum there are Categories I and II ( Unattended
Information and Product Placement, respectively ). The relevant stimuli
or elements in ads are not normally noticed. But, once attention is
Product placement, often included under the rubric of subliminal advertising, is far too obvious a technique to deserve a great deal of consideration on this site. Nevertheless, product placement is part of an overall stratagy to manipulate the views and attitudes of viewers and may form a more important part of cigarette 'advertising' in Europe once normal advertising is banned. Unattended information and product placements often contain wording or images that are ultimately expected to attract attention. When this is the case such ads are not manipulative nor semi-subliminal in nature. Ads with unattended components overlap with the next category of ads (Category III). Category III ads can be very similar in content to those containing unattended information. The key distinguishing feature of the latter is that attention will not be drawn to the elements embedded in the ads. One can reasonably both forms of ads as manipulative in intent. With unattended information, however, the level of manipulation is pretty low. With this type of ad, complaints are likely if the 'hidden' element is distressing to anyone who notices it. Further
along the continuum one comes to Semi-subliminal content (Category IV).
These incorporate ads that contain small, camouflaged or embedded components.
By definition, if they can be perceived consistently, even with difficulty,
then they must be semi-subliminal and not subliminal. This sub-set of
ads are also manipulative but their key identifying characteristic is
that they are semi-subliminal. Many Marlboro Right on the borderline of visual perception lies the area where stimuli can be perceived some 50% of the time and overlooked the other 50% (Category V). This is another manipulative area of advertising. Ads falling into this category could only be defined statistically on the basis of test results. It is the visual equivalent of guessing heads and tails and getting half right. But where adverts are concerned there would be no certainty that one had actually got that 50% correct. Any
advertising containing embedded material at this level of perceptual
difficulty would be extremely difficult to identify. And it is here
that the problem of projectionwould become most pronounced. and it would
be extremely difficult to ensure that projection of ones thoughts did
not influence recognition. Identifying an Beyond
the 50/50 borderline there can only be truly subliminal material (Category
VI). If used in Of these six categories of visual information, only the first four can be investigated without special experimental procedures. And of these four, only the first and second categories (Unattended/Product Placemen)t and are likely to produce thoroughly convincing evidence. The third category (Manipulative) will produce fairly discrete examples but differences of opinion will mean that identification of any specific ad content and associated meaning is contentious. The degree of contention will increase markedly with the fourth (Semi-subliminal) and fifth categories (50/50 Borderline). Despite problems with such a system, it is hoped that this process of categorization might assist the governing bodies and professional associations come clean about the skeletons in their cupboard. However, such an outcome is perhaps unlikely, given the symbiotic nature of large advertising agencies and their clients. It will probably not be until social scientists examine advertising material more thoroughly instead of relying upon extrapolation from a limited range of experimental studies to make their pronouncements about 'subliminal' advertising. Or, alternatively, some individuals take legal action against companies who appear to have done their best to deny them of the freedom of choice that is deemed to be the right of every consumer. *Pratkanis essentially lumped together categories I, II and III (Unattended but not manipulative, Unattended and manipulative, Product Placement) under the label of Unattended Stimuli. Categories IV (semi-subliminal) and V (borderline) are subsumed under his category of Figurally Transformed. Note, however, that Category V is also relevant to his Subthreshold stimuli as such stimuli are only perceptible on some occasions. Category VI is equivalent to his Subthreshold stimuli. Pratkanis' Masked class is almost unique and has relevance to printed ads. However, a few examples making use of the principles of masked presentations can be found in print. One Benson & Hedges ad, analysed on another page, is a perfect example of how masking techniques can be adapted for use on the printed page and on hoardings and billboards. |
The categorization process may be deemed suspect. However, if consistent and reliable differences emerge in research involving the modification of ads whose content is judged to be manipulative or semi-subliminal then this supports the judgement of those who identify these elements. If the original ads are more influential than any modified ad then this would also support a case stating that such ads were manipulative. The triangulation process can also be supported by other forms of evidence. If semi-subliminal and manipulative advertising has any basis in fact then it should also be possible to demonstrate this by addressing the following issues. Ads are produced by individuals, teams and agencies for specific companies and brands. When companies change agencies then they may well change policy or their new agency may have different standards. This means that blind testing/sorting of ads should produce clusters of ads whose publication dates correspond to the periods different business relationships were in force. For example if individuals knowledgeable about semi-subliminal ads were presented with ads placed in chronological order they should be able to rely upon their subjective judgements to determine when the use of semi-subliminal advertising started/stopped. If these cut-off dates corresponded with changes in agencies, etc. this also would help strengthen the case against ad agencies and their clients. Simply sorting a random selection of ads containing semi-subliminal and ordinary ads and finding equivalent correspondence should produce similar results. The most suitable candidates for examination are the tobacco companies and their ad agencies. Another
means of examining the prolific output of the tobacco companies would
be to compare the types of advertising for different segments of the
population. Semi-subliminal advertising for cigarettes is thematically
based but the same themes will not be pertinent to all members of
the population. Comparisons of different ads for different brands
produced by the same agencies, etc. should also be capable of providing
the basis for and objective examination of any consistencies in judgements
that paralleled brands and types of One
further area worth examination could involve the study of ads that
have been banned or withdrawn from circulation by the various regulatory
bodies. The author would contend that ads withdrawn from circulation
are likely to contain a disproportionate number of ads with semi-subliminal
content. In other words, a disproportionate number of ads that were
banned for an overt reason are also likely to contain semi- The scope for objective and experimental research is thus considerable. But so far marketing specialists and psychologists have not grasped the nettle and seriously examined advertising. Instead they have kept low in their bunkers and examined psychological and social processes related to semi-subiminal advertising. They thus skirt around the problem. Psychologists have focussed either on audio tapes or else subliminal perception. Marketing and other business oriented professionals have carried out surveys. Neither approach says much about actual advertising.
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Would you be interested in supporting the development of a web site focussing specifically on cigarette advertising, smoking behaviour, nicotine addiction and related information? In particular would you like to help encourage youngsters to develop a healthy scepticism about advertising practices associated with cigarette advertising and promotion? If you can offer either financial assistance to develop such a site or have material available that could be of use on such a site, the author would be pleased if you would contact him. |
Last Revised: 3rd January, 2003 |