Erik du Plessis
subliminal advertising
Subliminal Advertising became a an issue in the 1950's when Vance Packhard (A journalist, not an advertising expert or even psychologist) published a b ook titled Hidden Persuaders claiming that advertisers influences the minds of consumers in subliminal ways.
This was very popular in the reigning climate of the Cold War and Mind Manipulation.
The propagators of the experiment that this was a all based on subsequently stated that it was a hoax.
Yet, this still is something that most people are aware of - rather few are aware of the subsequent admission that it was a hoax.
Of all the decent empirically proven advertising theories that there are, I am more often faced by students refering to The Hidden Persuaders and the mystical way that advertising works than anything else.
In my new book I adress the issue of 'Creating Mischief' and PAckhard created mischief for advertisers that gave rise to legislation in many countries against subliminal advertising, based on simply a hoax.
(I have to admit that Robert Heath's theories about advertising would have a offended me less had he not titled his book The Hidden Power of Advertising.)
Now, occasionally, students or people at conferences asl me whether I have seen Derren Browns video on subliminal perseption.
When they ask they do not express an oppinion, they ask as if they ask whether I believe in the supernatural - implying they don't, but that they do know of seeing dead people.
Here is a direct link to the video, have a look some 1m people have viewed this on Facebook, but many millions on television. He was rather clever to use advertising agency creatives for this stunt.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZyQjr1YL0zg
This was very popular in the reigning climate of the Cold War and Mind Manipulation.
The propagators of the experiment that this was a all based on subsequently stated that it was a hoax.
Yet, this still is something that most people are aware of - rather few are aware of the subsequent admission that it was a hoax.
Of all the decent empirically proven advertising theories that there are, I am more often faced by students refering to The Hidden Persuaders and the mystical way that advertising works than anything else.
In my new book I adress the issue of 'Creating Mischief' and PAckhard created mischief for advertisers that gave rise to legislation in many countries against subliminal advertising, based on simply a hoax.
(I have to admit that Robert Heath's theories about advertising would have a offended me less had he not titled his book The Hidden Power of Advertising.)
Now, occasionally, students or people at conferences asl me whether I have seen Derren Browns video on subliminal perseption.
When they ask they do not express an oppinion, they ask as if they ask whether I believe in the supernatural - implying they don't, but that they do know of seeing dead people.
Here is a direct link to the video, have a look some 1m people have viewed this on Facebook, but many millions on television. He was rather clever to use advertising agency creatives for this stunt.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZyQjr1YL0zg
I discuss this in much greater detail in my next book, but:
I mailed this to several friends interested in 'neuro-marketing' asking their oppion. Everybody agreed that it was a stunt - he is a 'magician' and he does say that even when it he offers a solution, it is a stunt.
The fact is, and I discuss this in my book, the word subliminal is a 'contradiction in terms'. Sublimininal means below the limin, which means nothing happens neurologically. What Derren did was that the 'messages' were presented to people that were bored in a taxi - i.e. probably given some marginal attention.
I explain in my book that what happened was possible to have happened without any 'magic' and certainly could not have happened due to subliminal effects.
Here is another one:
http://www.examiner.com/x-17078-Lafayette-Political-Buzz-Examiner~y2009m7d19-Subliminal-advertising-and-original-thought
I mailed this to several friends interested in 'neuro-marketing' asking their oppion. Everybody agreed that it was a stunt - he is a 'magician' and he does say that even when it he offers a solution, it is a stunt.
The fact is, and I discuss this in my book, the word subliminal is a 'contradiction in terms'. Sublimininal means below the limin, which means nothing happens neurologically. What Derren did was that the 'messages' were presented to people that were bored in a taxi - i.e. probably given some marginal attention.
I explain in my book that what happened was possible to have happened without any 'magic' and certainly could not have happened due to subliminal effects.
Here is another one:
http://www.examiner.com/x-17078-Lafayette-Political-Buzz-Examiner~y2009m7d19-Subliminal-advertising-and-original-thought
