1957, Vance Packard published a book entitled The Hidden Persuaders. In that book, Packard warned the American public that advertisers were manipulating them with subliminal messages. According to Packard, Madison Avenue was "encouraging impulsive buying" by "exploiting secret desires and sexual sensitivities for commercial purposes" (Strasser, 1989, p. 288). Soon, people throughout America were concerned with the ethical questions of subliminal advertising. Most people agreed that it is unethical for advertisers to persuade people without their conscious knowledge of the fact. In response to this opinion, government agencies such as the Federal Trade Commission began to be concerned with the idea that subliminal advertising is deceptive to the public.
The debates over subliminal advertising became particularly heated in the mid-1970's, following the publication of Subliminal Seduction. That book was written by Wilson Bryan Key, and it was released for publication in 1974. In the book, Key argued that sexual lures were embedded in magazine advertisements in order to influence consumers on the subconscious level. Key noted that most magazine ads used airbrushing in order to enhance their images. He rationalized that, since the advertisers were airbrushing the pictures anyway, "why wouldn't they consider airbrushing in a subtle message such as the words buy or good?" (Larson, 1992, p. 406). One of Key's most famous examples of this type of advertising was found in a 1971 print ad for Gilbey's London Dry Gin. Key claimed that images of male and female genitalia were hidden among the bottle, glass, and ice cubes that were featured in the ad. In addition, Key claimed that the letters "S-E-X" were spelled out in the ice cubes (Clark, 1989, p. 120). When Key conducted a test on 1,000 subjects, 62 percent claimed that they felt sexual stimulation or sensuousness while looking at the Gilbey ad (p. 120).
Some critics of Key ha...