subject: The hypnotic techniques used in Advertising [print this page] James Vicary caused a public outcry when he suggested in 1957 that people could be influenced by subliminal advertising. He suggested that a study in which moviegoers watching a film called Picnic were repeatedly shown 0.03-second subliminal cuts for Coca-Cola and Popcorn, increased onsite sales by 58% and 18%. Since the revelation of his experiment the effect of subliminal messages in marketing has been hotly contested. A CIA appraisal of subliminal messages titled 'The Operational Potential of Subliminal Perception', suggested that 'Certain individuals can at certain times and under certain circumstances be influenced to change their behaviour without awareness of the influence'. Because of this, hypnotic messages were all but outlawed in the US when the FCC ruled that the use of subliminal messages could result in the loss of a broadcast license. In the UK and Australia subliminal marketing was also outlawed, so it has never been possible to verify Vicary's earliest claim one way or the other. Until recently.
To commemorate its 50th anniversary, the Vicary test was replicated at the International Branding Conference, MARKA2007 as part of the Hypnosis, Subconscious Triggers and Branding presentation. The 1,400 delegates watched a few minutes of the movie used in the first experiment, PICNIC into which hypnotic messages had been located at six second intervals. Then, the delegates were asked to choose between two fictitious brands. One brand 'Delta' had been suggested using the subliminal messages and the other 'Theta' had not.
When choosing between the two brands, 81% of the audience chose 'Delta' in preference to 'Theta'. This suggests a convincing substantiation of Vicary's results. 'Even though this technique was meant to have been banned, variations of the original techniques are still being used in advertising right now, this demonstrates the powerful influence of hypnotic messages' the demonstration told us. 'The subliminal cut was the mother of all hypnotic techniques and today her children walk all around you. They are everywhere, in posters, press advertising, on the radio and the T.V. They are the legal siblings of an outlawed parent.'
Actual, current examples were then revealed of the three most common hypnotic techniques used in advertising today. Each example was chosen because of its ability to change the behaviour of the public and its ability to dramatically increase sales. The first was the most watched advert on youtube in 2007, the Cadbury 'Gorilla'. This Cadbury's Dairy Milk chocolate advert features a gorilla banging away on drums to a Phil Collins soundtrack. The cult advert has been seen around 10 million times on the internet claimed a chart, published by the TellyAds.com website. Commercially the ad was responsible for enlarging Cadbury's market share by 30%.
Another example shown was the U.K's greatest ad ever as voted by Channel 4 viewers, the Guinness 'Surfer'. Despite being originally shown nearly 10 years ago this ad has left its mark because it still has instant awareness and very high levels spontaneous recall amongst its target audience.
Both ads use a number of well known and legal hypnotic and subliminal techniques to promote their products. This is by no means unusual. An analysis of the 20 most popular ads ever reveals that all of them use some form of hypnosis or subliminal techniques to sell their message.
It seems that despite early attempts to ban it, the use of hypnosis and subliminals to increase market share are widespread in advertising.
