Subliminal Perception

1. Introduction

There is always discussion about the effectiveness of the application of subliminal perception in marketing. It arouses my interest in uncovering this “superstitious” concept from the marketing standpoint via compiling examples and academic findings which may analyze some insightful thoughts for marketing practitioners.

In this paper, I will firstly summarize the concept of subliminal perception and the marketing implication. I will then give an example using subliminal advertising. Finally, I will give my observation which counters this concept in the recent decades. I argue that instead of using subliminal perception alone, subliminal priming, i.e. when a subliminal stimulus is paired with a supraliminal message, is a more effective way marketers should consider.

2. Main Idea of Subliminal Perception and the Marketing Implications

Schiffman and Kanuk (2007) defined subliminal perception as follow:

Stimuli that are too weak or too brief to be consciously seen or heard may nevertheless be strong enough to be perceived by one or more receptor cells. This process is called subliminal perception because the stimulus is beneath the threshold, or “limen”, of conscious awareness, though obviously not beneath the absolute threshold of the receptors involved. (p.151-152)

A subliminal message or advertising is one that is processed without a person’s conscious awareness, although it is not below the absolute threshold. That means a person receives the subliminal messages but he or she does not aware. It is in contrast to the concept called “supraliminal” messages which a person recognizes and processes consciously. (Schiffman and Kanuk, 2007, p.152)

Subliminal advertising arouses public belief dated back to James Vicary’s test in 1957. Vicary used subliminal stimuli in a drive-in movie (where by flashing the words “Eat Popcorn” and “Drink Coca-Cola” for 1/2,000 of a second in every 5 seconds) and boosted popcorn and...