Subliminal Advertising

In 1957, Vance Packard wrote a book entitled The Hidden Persuaders. The book is considered “one of the most influential books and important events in American advertising.” (Nelson 2008, p. 113-114). More than 50 years after the book was first published, some of the case studies and anecdotes brought to light by Packard have still been proven true.

Chapter 5 of The Hidden Persuaders described Packard’s beliefs about the power of image to differentiate standard goods. This idea has been tied with the classic cola wars, Coca-Cola VS. Pepsi. Packard once remarked about the “lack of product differentiation among leading branded goods.” (Nelson 2008, p. 119). He stated, “A few days ago I heard a gathering of advertising men being advised that in blindfold tests people can’t even tell the difference between Coca-Cola and Pepsi-Cola!” (Nelson 2008, p. 119). In 2005, Coke spent $317 million and Pepsi spent $262 million on U.S. advertising. Recent taste tests have proven the same results described by Packard in 1957.

Packard suggested, “People do not know what they want and won’t necessarily tell researchers the truth,” in chapter 2 of his book (Nelson 2008, p. 119). In one particular case study, consumers were given identical detergents to use. The only difference was the packaging; one blue, one yellow, and one balanced yellow and blue design, The consumers used their perceptions of the packaging colors when evaluating the product. In a more recent case study, researchers used the prime as a question. By doing so, the researchers were able to influence the way the respondents thought about answering. The respondents did not realize that the question might have influenced them to respond in a biased fashion.

In chapter 15 of The Hidden Persuaders, Packard described the use of persuasion techniques on children, particularly speaking about “fads.” Packard used the 1955 fad craze of Davy Crockett as his example. A report from the trade journal Tide stated that a...