Subliminal and manipulative ads from Spain and their relationship to similar ads from the USA.

Sprite Spanish Joe Jack Daniels

Tommy's Tavern

Semi-subliminal advertising is not confined to the English speaking world. The active Marlboro ad in the opening section of this page translates well to any culture familiar with the American West and cowboys. Many Marlboro ads have no linguistic component other than the brand name and a few well known captions about Marlboro Country. This particular ad was probably used all over the world. In addition to seeing it in print in UK and American magazines the author found it displayed widely on bus shelters along the Costa del Sol in June 1999. Many other Marlboro ads were also on display at the same time. A couple of these are shown on the right. Some other ads the author noted in Spain were also for imported products (a Jack Daniel's ad is shown below ) whilst others were seemingly of Spanish origin or adapted for use in Spain (a Spanish ad for Camel is also shown below).

Of particular interest was a Sprite ice bucket found in Tommy's Tavern on the eastern end of the beach at Benalmadena, near Malaga. The owner, incidentally, isn't named Tommy. It's Steve (on the left). He claims to be often left holding the bucket. Tommy, illustrated below right, is his son.

When I pointed out that an ice bucket on the bar counter contained some semi-subliminal artwork Steve, the other bar staff and my partner Pat had difficulty noticing anything unusual. But Tommy, unhampered by any adult inhibitions or gross over learning that images can only mean one thing, did. He spotted that the two S's in the phrase 'tú sabrás' were actually drawn in the shape of faces with wide open mouths. Various cigarette ads, the Gibbs SR ad and others use variations on the same ploy for a variety of reasons connected with oral activities ranging from cleaning teeth to sex. The effect is clearly intended to operate at a semi-subliminal level as no-one seems to notice what is relatively obvious until after it is pointed out.

The illustrations of the ice bucket do not show the faces all that clearly. So, if you are on holiday on the Costa del Sol, pop into Tommy's Tavern at Las Gaviotas, Benalmadena Costa, and have a look. Steve and family serve a tasty choice of Spanish beers, soft drinks and even Ruddles beer from England. They also dish up snacks and meals all day. Well, almost all day. It is, after all, tourist Spain. Calling in for a night-cap most nights after a hectic day visiting various towns around the region, Pat and I found Tommy's Tavern closed either when the sun set or when the last customer departed. Remember, I did say they had a nice line in Spanish beer.

Just to show that this was probably not a chance occurence, here is another Sprite ad from Denmark with a very similar message. Just underneath the top of the bottle you will find the face shown in the enlargement on the right. Coincidence? I think not. These embedded images were part of the promotional mix, intended to attract attention but not so obviously that people began to look for the 'faces'. Note also that one version of the Sprite label in the year 2000 includes what would initially appear to be a quantity of liquid flying through the air above and below the brand name. However if you look more carefully at the label you will see that the liquid contains a number of crude outlines of human features. Indeed, if the section of the ad enlarged on the right is perceived to be the outline of an individual from the chest upwards (the rollover adds a 'collar' to distinguish the head from the trunk), one is left wondering what the projection appearing from the lower left border is supposed to be perceived as.

Doubting thomases might care to bear in mind the Sprite comes from the same 'stable' of soft drinks as other major soft drinks such as CocaCola, Dr Pepper and Fanta, whose labels are discussed elsewhere on this site. Pepsi doesn't get a clean bill of health either. See the the Mexican ads for the lowdown on Pepsi.

El espot publicitario : Las metamorfosis del deseo

by Jesús González Roquena (1995) Ediciones Cátedra, S.A. , Madrid.

ISBN 8437613108

There are no flies on this Camel

The Sprite ice box is a rather innocuous example of semi-subliminal art. It is the type that may have an impact on your response and possibly even your behaviour in the long term. But it is not plugging a product that could have a major impact on your health. However, in the USA., Joe Camel (see the Camel page) provided a strong focal point of interest for youngsters who became interested in smoking. He was a very appealing character and, as the Tommy and the ice bucket example indicates, children can detect images in ads when adults have difficulty. If this is a common factor influencing children's responses to embedded elements in ads it has important implications.

The Joe Camel character became as well known as Mickey Mouse. Even very young children recognized Joe more readily than Mickey. It may therefore not be all that surprising to know that smoking among under age youngsters dramatically increased in subsequent years and the proportion of under age smokers smoking Camel increased substantially. Camels were cool.

Thanks to the actions of health conscious Americans Joe has gone from the American scene. However his spirit lingers on as the Camel page indicates. In Spain, Joe's relatives can still be found without difficulty.

On the left is an illustration taken from a cigarette dispenser showing the Spanish equivalent of Joe (there is some damage to the poster around the nose). Note that the cigarette machine displaying this poster is placed next to an ice-cream dispenser. Such wide eyed cartoon type images are calculated to appeal to children.

This, fortunately, is not the type of merchandising one would accept in the UK . Neither have citizens of the UK been exposed for many years to the type of cigarette advertising that is still prominent in the shops of Spain and Gibraltar (below).

. Tobacconist's shop front.

European legislation that was promised regarding tobacco advertising ought to have helped improve the outlook for the Tommy's of this world and decrease the likelihood of Spanish children beginning to smoke at a very early age. However, one can never underestimate the tobacco company. They have won their legal battle to prevent European legislation and the responsibility for banning advertising and controlling promotional activities has been thrown back onto national governments. Can we expect, early action? I doubt it. Even if some form of agreement between governments and tobacco companies were reached there would be continuing problems.

As the Top Secret page indicates tobacco companies are never willing to be bound by the spirit and intentions of any agreement that they make if they can find a way around it. Despite recently agreeing to cut back on advertising and reduce teenage smoking in the United States over the next few years 'What do we find?' They have substantially increased advertising over the past couple of years in magazines that have a large proportion of young teenage readers.

The wily Philip Morris also are cutting back on expenditure on back page ads for Marlboro (Times, Newsweek, etc.) and seem likely to replace these with ads relating to their Act Responsibly Initiative. Whatever that is, it sounds good. But how many kids pay attention to these types of magazines compared to livelier, young adult, oriented magazines? The answer is relatively few. Philip Morris executives will be able to disingenuously state that the company has promoted responsible smoking behaviour (whatever that is) whilst still raking in their profits. At the same time they will probably claim to hold the high moral ground relative to their competitors.

El espot publicitario : Las metamorfosis del deseo

by Jesús González Roquena (1995) Ediciones Cátedra, S.A. , Madrid.

ISBN 8437613108

Some things are bigger in Spain

If this Jack Daniel's advert is typical it would seem as though not only does Spain grow on visitors, Spain makes some visitors grow tremendously. This ad, initially noted high on the side wall of a building and either intended to be viewed from a passing flyover or the building opposite, is not typical of the majority of Jack Daniels ads found in UK publications. However, semi-subliminal advertising is used by the company on occasions as the ads illustrated on the The Ads of the Month Page and Faces3 pages indicate. The second picture of the same ad gives a better impression but seems, initially, to be simply an innocuous illustration of men moving some empty barrels.

However, consider the way in which the artwork has been 'touched up' to give the viewer the impression that the man on the right is positioned against the background. He is silhouetted against the background. Part of this background does not really seem appropriate. The white streak ought to be part of his belt yet it matches the background colour. If this aspect of the ad is intended to be perceived as a part of the background then you will find that a very specific part of the workers body is silhouetted against the background. It is the type of gigantic, tumescent, phallus generally found only on statures of ancient deities in temples dedicated to the pleasures of the flesh. Although clearly not intended, a number of alternative, risible, interpretations of this ad are possible. One concerns the origins of Jack Daniels. All one needs to do is work on notion associated with a gigantic phallus, a barrel and take into account the other information available in the photograph e.g. there is a No Entry sign on the lamp standard in front of the poster. Have fun!

The artwork on this ad may have been accidental. However the use of semi-subliminal material in at least two other Jack Daniel would indicate that a sexually laden interpretation was one intention of the ad agency who created the ad. Perceptive viewers might also have noticed that there is supplementary- evidence within this ad for the authors viewpoint. Note that a word can be deciphered in the carved/scrawled 'lettering' on two of the barrels to the left of this ad. In particular, the barrel 'on top'. You may need to view the large image to perceive this clearly. Apply a little imagination and you will find this word has only three letters, it begins with _ , the middle letter is _, and it ends with _.

Fill in the blanks, please.

El espot publicitario : Las metamorfosis del deseo

by Jesús González Roquena (1995) Ediciones Cátedra, S.A. , Madrid.

ISBN 8437613108

Future Developments

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.