Advertising, music, atmospheres, subliminal messages, and films can have an impact on our emotional life, and we cannot control it because we are not even conscious of it. - Tariq Ramadan
Subliminal Messages can be perceived as a particular stimulus, mostly audio or visual aimed at increasing the effectiveness of something or conveying a whole different meaning. They are mostly put through advertisements, films, or songs. These messages stand out for not being grasped by our conscious minds. As we know that 90% of the total brain function is subconscious, it is evident that the subconscious is way more powerful in processing information than the conscious mind. Thus, these messages pass through our conscious minds but get only perceived by our subconscious.
Subliminal messages are designed to go beyond the limits of normal perception. In a way, it appears “inaudible'' to our conscious mind and audible to our subconscious mind. These messages tend to state a point to the target audience. When they walk away, their minds are imprinted with a message that they hadn’t consciously received.
In the modern era, it has often been suggested that subliminal is widely used in advertisements and political propaganda.
Subliminal Messaging in real life
There are unbelievable amounts of subliminal messages we witness every day. A notable advantage of these messages is that it makes an advertisement, logo, or marketing strategy look appealing without being pushy.
In the field of Psychology, the Gestalt principles tell us about how the human eye perceives visual elements. According to this, the mind “informs” what the eye sees by perceiving a series of individual elements as a whole. Perceiving involves processing, organising and interpreting stimuli sensed by sensory organs. Meanwhile, subliminal perception is the perception of a series of stimuli where the person is not consciously aware of it and gets influenced involuntarily. It is experienced when a person is presented with very quick or slow stimuli for it to be consciously detected.
Take the Amazon logo, for instance. It is one of the most popular logos across the globe. If you look closely, it has a smiley face just beneath the word spelled out. The smiley has been made into an arrow, which also points from A to Z, signifying that everything you need is readily made available for its customers.
This might be a fun activity for you. Notice the logo of Baskin Robbins. The franchise is popularly known for its 31 flavors of ice cream. If you look closely, the numbers 3 and 1 are inculcated on the letters B and R, forming 31. The perfect color contrast and arrangement of the brand’s initials help us remember why Baskin Robbins stands out from the rest.
Is subliminal messaging effective?
Many psychologists are skeptical about how effective subliminal messages are. Yet, the fact that people can be influenced unconsciously cannot be denied. In research where individuals were subliminally presented with words related to thirst, they reportedly drank more, given that they did not report being thirstier. This implies they were not aware of seeing the thirst-related words but were also unaware of the effect of those words on their behavior. In another research where individuals in a liquor store-bought German wine while German music was being played and others bought Italian wine while Italian music was being played. When asked about the choice of wine they purchased, only very few mentioned the music that was being played while they made a purchase. This showed that the majority of them were unaware of the influence of music upon them.
Instances like these depict that our consumption, choices, and decisions are affected by subliminal factors. Even if we fail to detect the stimuli, it still has the same effect on us. We also don’t realize that it is the stimuli that cause a change in behavior within us. If the customers at the liquor store were told that the music they hear would lead to them sticking to a particular wine, they would perhaps buy a different sort.
The general belief is that subliminal messages are very powerful up to an extent where they can make us do anything. But in reality, they can only affect people in subtle ways and not very powerfully. In conclusion, it can be said that subliminal messages are advantageous for giving customers or viewers the little “push” while they convey a message, promote content, or a particular product. With that being said, subliminal stimuli and consciously detectable stimuli influence our behavior when used right.
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