How effective is semi-subliminal advertising?
The question of effectiveness has never been accurately answered. Most authors simply extrapolate from academic studies in the field of subliminal perception (see experts.htm). Very few articles consider ‘subliminal’ advertising. One of the few summaries of the limited number of studies in this field has been produced by Ji-Young Hong at the University of Texas at Austin. Whilst Hong’s article summarises the literature extremely well it actually pays little attention to the type of ads presented on the subliminal world web site and presents the standard conclusion ie such advertising is ineffective. The best one can currently do in the absence of studies investigating advertising when one is aware of the number of companies using ‘subliminal’ ads, is to extrapolate from research into subliminal perception and more general studies of advertising. Consideration of the conclusions drawn from studies into subliminal perception and an awareness of the range and power of the companies using
