What Are Subliminal Perceptions in Marketing?

Consumers experience subliminal perception from marketing messages that influence them without their conscious knowledge. #CreateSomethingOutofNothing

An organization’s marketing is effective when it delivers a message that sticks in consumers’ minds and influences them to buy. Consumers experience subliminal perception from marketing messages that influence them without their conscious knowledge. Subliminal influence on consumer buying behavior has been studied and debated for decades. Many marketers include subliminal words and images in advertising, while others don't make it a priority.

 

Subliminal Marketing

“Subliminal” means “below the threshold”

Subliminal messages influence consumers only under certain conditions. “Subliminal” means “below the threshold," so subliminal messages are aimed at consumers’ subconscious minds. Many marketers include subliminal references to sex, power, happiness, hunger or wealth in their print, online and television ads or in brand logos. For example, one print ad for Coca Cola featured frost that some argued was subtly shaped in the image of a naked woman on the top of a can. Presumably, that image would shift the perception of the drink and make it more attractive to the target market. In another example, the Amazon logo features a smiley face that connects the letters A and Z in Amazon as if to suggest that consumers can find anything from A to Z and always be happy doing business with Amazon.

 

Creating Preferences

For example, in a 2011 study published in the “Journal of Consumer Psychology,” researchers tested whether a subliminal message of an iced-tea brand could influence viewers’ choices when they were given the option to drink iced-tea or bottled water at the end of an experiment. The data determined that only thirsty viewers were influenced, and only those who either didn’t prefer iced tea or didn’t prefer either choice were influenced to choose the iced tea because of the subliminal message.

 

Motivation Necessary

Subliminal marketing can influence consumers to prefer your product if they don't already have a strong preference for a competing product.

Consumers have to have heard of the brand in a subliminal message, and be motivated to do what the subliminal message suggests, in order to be influenced by subliminal perception. For example, if you don’t own a dog, watching a subliminal message to “Buy Brand-X dog food” flashed quickly at intervals throughout a movie won’t influence you to buy dog food. The subliminal message may influence you, however, to choose Brand-X over Brand-Y if you already plan to buy dog food after watching the movie. At the same time, the subliminal message about Brand-X will likely have no influence on a dog food-buying consumer if the consumer strongly prefers Brand-Y or has never heard of Brand-X before.

 

Subliminal Exposed

While implanting subliminal messages in marketing can help sway some undecided consumers, many marketers don't see the need. Compelling marketing that moves conscious thoughts and emotions do more to keep consumers coming back to a brand they already like. Additionally, any subliminal impact of ads and logos on consumers’ minds is diminished when the supposed subliminal messages or images are exposed. For example, when you're told that the frost on a cola can in an ad is shaped like a woman, the subliminal image no longer serves its purpose. Once your subliminal trick is revealed, the words or images become just another part of the overt marketing message consumers will consciously think about regarding your brand.

 

Benefits

-         Subliminal messages might gain their potential influence/power from the fact that they may be able to circumvent the critical functions of the conscious mind, and it has often been argued that subliminal suggestions are therefore potentially more powerful than ordinary suggestions.