Subliminal Advertising

Introduction:

In today’s commercialized world, advertising is of great importance for any firm to succeed. Billions of dollars are spent on advertising campaigns each year and as the competition in the marketing industry has increased it has led to the creation of a special type of advertising known as subliminal advertising. Since the 1950’s, subliminal advertising has been a controversial subject as scientists and advertising agencies argue over its existence, effectiveness, ethics and various other aspects. This research paper seeks to discuss and evaluate the history of subliminal advertising, its creation and uses, its effectiveness and its ethical and legal implications. This in depth analysis will allow us to thoroughly examine what subliminal advertising actually is and whether this now widely known phenomenon is as effective as the general public has been led to believe.

Why We Have Advertising?

The words “ad vertere” in latin mean “to turn toward”. Advertising is a form of marketing communication used in business in order to encourage, persuade, and/or manipulate to continue taking an action. Commercial advertising, which is the most common form of advertising, seeks to use advertisements via various mediums in order to increase consumption of their products and thus earn higher profits. Advertisements are used to promote one’s product, raise awareness, compare it to the competitor’s product in order to prove its superiority, retain existing customers and attract new customers. Subliminal advertising is one such form of advertising.

The term “limen” in psychological terms refers to the threshold of consciousness. Subliminal advertising is therefore advertising which includes stimuli which are presented below the level ...

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