Subliminal messages in advertising.

The advertising industry is increasingly facing the issue of information overload. Penetrating
this mass information and reaching consumers with simple advertising messages becomes difficult. An ongoing challenge for advertisers is to find new methods to convince consumers of their goods and services. Visual and auditory media are often used to advertise products and services but the advertising industry uses instruments and tools to manipulate consumer behavior and consequently their purchase decisions.  

Subliminal advertising is not a myth. Subliminal messages in marketing do exist. It is very likely
that you have come across some form of subliminal message on the Internet, on television or in magazines. They are not easy to detect, normally you do not realize it. The purpose of subliminal advertising is to communicate what marketers want. In marketing, subliminal messages aim to encourage the purchase of the product through subtle effects that are not normally visible to the naked eye. Several means are used to get into your head - images, sounds and other techniques are used to make the message sink into your subconscious.
Through subliminal messages, marketers are able to appeal the emotional and subconscious
part of the brain. Marketing research shows that up to 95% of our purchase decisions are
directed by subconscious mental processes. Well-known logos often contain hidden messages
that do not attract much attention and are not easily seen at first glance.

Over the last few years, new laws have been passed to prohibit the advertising of certain products such as alcohol and tobacco. However, companies have not abandoned their marketing strategies and they have worked on a more subtle marketing - marketing with a subliminal message. Marlboro has been advertising in motor sport for years. Laws banning the advertising of Tobacco are strict, every tobacco brand logo was removed from the cars due to the restrictions. The brand has had to innovate and advertise its products in a more subtle way. Marlboro has cleverly circumvented this ban by creating a more subtle design. They simulated a tobacco packet by painting a bar code on the back of the car.

Optical illusions are often used in subliminal advertising. An optical illusion is the use of an image with specific forms and colors that trick your eyes and make you think you see a particular image which is actually different from what it really is. This is an illusion resulting from certain visual effects that cause a misunderstanding or misinterpreting of what we see.

Can you see two things in the image of Snooty Peacock?

The jewelry boutique’s logo plays on optical illusions, depending on where your focus is, you will see either one image or another. On the one hand, the logo shows a woman with a chain around her neck, and the other a peacock. The illustration is designed to allude to the elegance of the brand in the form of the peacock and also the unique woman who will wear the jewelry.

Sometimes brand logos can become so familiar that we do not realize the real significance behind their design. Through the logo, the Swiss chocolate bar brand Toblerone wants to take the consumers to the Alps, the origin of the chocolate. But the brand tells us more about its origin - if you look at the image of the mountain you will see a hidden silhouette which is a bear. The bear connects Toblerone with Berne, the town of its origin.

Continuing with hidden messages in logos, Tostito is a good example of hidden message. This American brand of tortilla chips uses its logo to bring a message to the consumers. Even though it contains a subliminal message it is one that can be seen quite easily. Can you see it?

The two “T´s” in the middle of the words represent two people eating a Tostito and dipping it in salsa. Through its logo the brand conveys the ideas of sharing, greed, and joy. Tostito encourages their customers to consume the product.

           

Scent marketing is another form of subliminal messages - it is the use of odors in marketing and commercial purposes. Marketers also play on odors to manipulate us and make us buy.

Camille Yaguiyan