Controversy Over Subliminal Advertising Subliminal advertising has been a controversial

Subliminal advertising has been a controversial topic since the 1950's, when the first experimental tests in subliminal persuasion were conducted. Larson defines subliminal persuasion as involving "words or pictures, flashed on a movie or television screen so rapidly, played on an audio channel so softly, or disguised in a magazine ad so skillfully that viewers or listeners do not consciously recognize them." Although these subliminal messages are not consciously recognized, it is believed that they are "absorbed subconsciously by the receivers." In this way, the subliminal messages are presumed to influence the unconscious impulses of consumers. The topic of subliminal persuasion is controversial because some people do not believe it is really possible to influence buying behavior on an unconscious level. In addition, the topic is controversial to those who believe in it because it raises a number of ethical questions regarding fair practices in advertising.

In the 1950's, a marketing expert named James Vicary conducted the first experiments to see if people could be influenced by subliminal messages in films. Vicary's subliminal messages were less than a second long, and they were inserted within films that the research subjects watched. One of the messages urged the viewers to buy Coca-Cola. Another message urged them to buy popcorn. According to Vicary's study, when the viewers took an intermission, "sales of Coca-Cola went up by 18 per cent, those for popco

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e brand names of products that they have been subliminally exposed to. However, when they rate their responses to various stimuli, "they rate the previously presented subliminal stimuli more positively than stimuli that have never been seen before." The American Psychological Association (APA) has also agreed with this point of view. According to the president of the APA's Division of Consumer Psychology: "The controversy has always been over changing people's attitudes. That you can't do. What you can do is trigger a prior attitude or predisposition." Therefore, it can be seen that an audience member will respond to subliminal stimuli if he or she is already inclined to do so anyway. Subliminal ads do not seem to force people to do things against their will. However, people who are already inclined to buy soft drinks during intermission will have their desires enhanced if they are exposed to subliminal messages during a film. This shows that subliminal perception exists and that it is possible for people to be influenced by subliminal advertising. However, the controversy still exists over the extent to which such subliminal messages are capable of affecting consumer behavior. The fact that subliminal perception exi

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