![]() More substantively, what claim is Vicary, in fact, making? Is he claiming that people who never before, or rarely, had bought refreshments during a movie, were now doing so that people who regularly purchase refreshments were doing so more often, or earlier or that people who normally chose Pepsi or other soft drinks found themselves drinking Coke? The findings are so inadequately specified as to be uninterpretable from the viewpoint of marketing analysis. Furthermore, the claimed demonstration has not been replicated. For example, not only is there no mention of an unexposed control group, there is no reference to a baseline of historical data during periods where conditions matched those pertaining during the test (e.g., day of week, composition of audience, hour of day, weather conditions, season of year, and stocks of product on hand). Vicary, the "invisible commercial" increased popcorn sales by 57.5% and Coca-Cola sales by 18.1%.Ībsence of details for such a provocative claim is, of course, highly unsatisfactory and, without further information, no social scientist or advertising practitioner would take Vicary's account seriously. Two advertising messages were projected-one urging the audience to eat popcorn, the other suggesting, "Drink Coca-Cola."Īccording to Mr. The tests ran for six weeks, during which time some 45,000 persons attended the theatre. Vicary reported that he recently tested the "invisible commercial" in a (Fort Lee) New Jersey movie theater. Vicary, head of the motivation research company bearing his name, said the commercial messages are superimposed on a film as "very brief overlays of light." They are so rapid-up to 1/3,000 of a second- that they cannot be seen by the audience. Probably the earliest and most-cited claim of subliminal advertising influence was made by James Vicary, reported by Advertising Age in "'Persuaders' Get Deeply 'Hidden' Tool: Subliminal Projection" (1957, p. Finally, a meta-analysis by Charles Trappey (1996) of studies of subliminal effects in advertising-like contexts found that the amount of variability accounted for (i.e., differences between results for subliminal versus control conditions) is negligible. ![]() In fact, no successful replication of any study offered as evidence in support of subliminal effects in an advertising-like setting has been reported. Moreover, after Sharon Beatty and Del Hawkins (1989) failed to replicate the widely cited early claim by Del Hawkins (1970) of subliminal effects in advertising-like conditions, the claim was retracted. In the realm of advertising, the few academic researchers who have claimed effectiveness for subliminal stimuli are vulnerable on methodological or logical grounds (e.g., Kil-bourne, Painton, and Ridley, 1985). While there has been much psychological research pertaining to the possibility of subliminal perception and persuasion (see, for example, Dixon, 1981), the results remain controversial as to the existence of subliminal effects, especially regarding the ability of subliminal stimuli to influence behavior. (1994) affords subliminal advertising mild plausibility, without claiming evidence for behavioral influence. Absence of EvidenceĮxamples of research reviews that conclude against the effectiveness of subliminal advertising include those by Timothy E. ![]() As far as the public is concerned, it is a story that is too good not to be true. ![]() Apparently, the initial claims in the 1950s of subliminal advertising influence, the proponents of which produced not the slightest scientific documentation or evidence, nevertheless instilled the assumption that advertisers use subliminal messages to influence individuals without the individuals being aware of it. Martha Rogers and Kirk Smith (1993) have noted that while professional advertisers scoff at the idea and virtually no members of the academic advertising community give it credence, the general public seems to assume that subliminal advertising is widely and effectively practiced. The notion of subliminal advertising, that is, that advertisers can influence the desirability or even purchase of a brand through using hidden, undetectable advertising stimuli, is one of the myths of twentieth-century popular culture.
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