Subliminal Messages: How Often Do You See Them?

Subliminal messages are stimuli that are below an individual's threshold for conscious perception. To put it simply, they are things that we don't consciously notice that our brain does. There are subliminal messages in all kinds of advertisements; since we see and hear advertisements, we can see and hear subliminal stimuli. Subliminal messages are different than conscious messages, although it is easy to confuse the two. For example, check out this Wendy's commercial.

Now, there are subliminal messages in this ad, and there are non-subliminal messages in this ad. A non-subliminal stimuli would be the food. A lot of fast food commercials end with a close of up shot of the delicious-looking food. This isn't a subliminal message. You're meant to be conscious of the images of food that are making you hungry. Wendy's wants you to see their delicious food, realize you're hungry, and go to Wendy's. An example of subliminal stimuli may or may not be the attractive, thin people that are in this ad for fast food. If you're paying attention, it's not hard to realize that there really aren't any overweight people. Actually, everyone in the ad looks like they could be athletes. According to one source, attractive people in advertisements appeal to our emotional desires and cause us to make irrational decisions. I'll be honest, I don't know if that's a reliable source, but would you be more likely to go to Wendy's if the commercial features fat people instead of thin people? Even if the commercial was exactly the same except for one overweight person, that image of the overweight person brings the thought to your consciousness. It would negatively affect the image that the ad is trying to portray: young, thin business professionals eat Wendy's for lunch, and they have a great time while doing it.

This ad, for example, is not really subliminal. Although it is hard to pick up on, it's meant for you notice it. An image like this would be subliminal.

See how the skittle at the beginning of explosion spells out SEX? This one might have been a slip up, except for the fact that the E and X at the beginning are capitalized and the rest of the word isn't. If you search on the internet for subliminal messages in advertisements, some of the most common either spell out the word sex or are a sexual reference. 

This is from The Lion King, a Disney movie. The word sex is spelled out in the sky. Apparently Disney movies are famous for subliminally hinting at sex to kids.

This one, again, seems like it was on purpose. As does this phallic symbol on the poster for the Little Mermaid.

You can think whatever you want about these images, and its hard to tell exactly what effect they are having on kids that see them. Who knows, maybe subtly hinting at sex sells more Disney movies. Whether or not you think these were on purpose, one thing you should be aware of is that they do exist and they're being used by marketers today. From ads like the Viagra commercial that I wrote about for the last blog post to Disney movies, they are everywhere, and a lot of them seem to be about sex. As a student of marketing, one thing you should always do is be aware of the things you see and hear every day.