Psychological Effects of Subliminal Advertising – How to Dominate the Consumer Market

Psychological Effects of Subliminal Advertising – How to Dominate the Consumer Market

 

One of the most controversial fields where subliminal persuasion has been applied is advertising and marketing. The use of this technology in said field became controversial because of the ethical and legal issues involved. So, experts have conducted many studies on the real psychological effects of subliminal advertising to see whether it really is effective.

 

And based on the results, you should definitely look into the use of subliminal messages in advertising because it just might help you dominate the consumer market. This is exactly what happened with some big companies that harnessed the power of psychological persuasion. As one example, top brand Coca Cola is said to have experienced an increase in their thirst ratings after people become exposed to the company's subliminal messages.

 

So what are the forms of subliminal messages in commercials and other types of ads?

 

1. Subliminal audio. These are songs that have subliminal messages embedded in them. Some also use songs with messages recorded acoustically backward.

 

2. Subliminals in print ads. These are images that are hidden in the printed advertisements. They are usually artistically placed so they can remain hidden but still powerful enough for the subconscious to immediately pick up on.

 

3. Subliminals in video ads. Video ads such as TV commercials may also feature images or words that are very briefly flashed.

 

The Definition of Subliminal Advertising

 

However, according to the research on the effects of subliminal perception, the most effective are words and pictures that are flashed in between video scenes and subliminal messages embedded in songs. These were found to be really powerful stimuli that have certain psychological effects, which means this technology does have the ability to affect the psychological state of a person.

 

Experts also found that the psychological effects of subliminal advertising are quite temporary, though very real. This is why for subliminal suggestions to be successfully persuasive, they have to be applied repeatedly and regularly until the desired action is achieved.

 

Another finding is that unlike other advertising techniques marketers use, subliminals happen to be the only ones that have the power to influence behavior, albeit indirectly.

 

The Challenges in Subliminal Persuasion in Advertising

 

Aside from all these useful characteristics of subliminal advertising, there are also some warnings that experts wish to add to anyone's definition of subliminal persuasion in psychology. First, subliminal suggestions will only work within the bounds of the subject's own mind and the characteristics describing the said situation. Thus, these subliminal messages can trigger different responses in different individuals.

 

So if the subject's mind is very limited, marketers should take time to raise their customers' expectations and widen their perspectives. Only then can the subject be more open to dreaming big.

 

Aside from that, to achieve success in subliminal advertising, you need to reinforce the messages strongly on a regular basis.

 

But one of the biggest challenges in the use of subliminal advertising is the strict rules that some state governments use to govern the release of advertising materials.