Subliminal Advertising
There is no doubt that advertising plays a monumental role in today’s society. In an article related to advertising Marshal McLuhan was quoted as saying ‘“The continuous pressure is to create ads more and more in the image of audience motives and desires”’(Fowles 658). To achieve success in advertising, a company must pull at the consumers’ psyche long enough so they will stop and look at the product being displayed. To be at the top, advertisers need to go above and beyond, which can sometimes lead to deceitful practices. By definition subliminal messaging is a signal or message embedded in another message, designed to pass below the normal limits of perception. These messages are unapparent to the conscious mind, but in certain situations can affect the subconscious or deeper mind and affect actions or attitudes. Many question the authenticity of subliminal advertising; to put it simply, yes subliminal advertising is real. Subliminal messages have often been used in advertising in many different facets: creating artificial needs, advertisers and manufacturers of products encourage and employ the use of subliminal sexual messages, and using subliminal messaging as a means of helping people. Throughout the years advertisers have done plenty of research to find the most effective ways of reaching the consumer, and while many advertising companies deny the use of subliminal advertising, the fact remains that many ads in circulation now that are considered subliminal.
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