There are ads everywhere. We can’t avoid them. If we counted how many ads we encountered in a day, there would be millions. There are ads on almost everything known to man, from the obvious – TV, billboards, magazines, and newspapers – to the more subtle – t-shirts, washroom stalls and lunch containers.
In advertisements, there are messages. Some are subliminal and some are direct, but the most powerful ads are the subliminal ones because they affect us on a subconscious level. Do we spend time analysing ads to get the messages they are sending? Or do we receive the messages and react without knowing it? We are lambs led to the slaughter at the mercy of advertisers if we are not conscious of the ads.
Subliminal ads have the potential to cause major damage to the viewer if the behaviour the ads are trying to alter is potentially emotionally or physically destructive. Ads can condition us to adopt lifestyles without the harm being seen. Advertisers want us to look favourably on their products and go out and buy them. It is a well known fact that advertising is big business, and if an ad campaign fails, there is a humongous financial loss. Advertisers may have things they want to advertise that they know are not politically correct or healthy, but they find a way to convince us that it is okay to do what the ad is suggesting.
An example of subliminal advertising was the Alpine cigarette ads. In one ad, there was a mature, well-educated man dressed in a doctoral gown with a lit cigarette in his mouth. He was looking at a pack of cigarettes in his hand with a contemplative look; the ad was implying that this man was a professor. The caption on the ad said, “Who put the men in menthol smoking? Alpine – that’s who!” This ad seduced the viewer into drawing false conclusions such as there was nothing wrong with smoking. If a man who is supposed to be mature and well-educated can smoke, why can’t you? The ad was saying that since this man smokes and he was old, we can live to a ripe old age and still smoke. It was also saying that was okay for men to smoke menthols.
Reason would suggest that smoking is harmful, but no matter what the health warnings on the cigarette package say, people are still smoking and some of the blame for that can fall at the door of advertisers who want people to dismiss the warnings as inflammatory.
Another ad by Alpine showed a white male and female in beach wear standing thigh-high in clear water, in each other’s arms. The female was holding a parasol; she was looking behind her, and the caption said, “A fresh new way to see the world”. Since the female was protecting herself from the sun with a parasol, the ad was saying she was health conscious. The people in the ad appeared to be healthy, young, vivacious, sexy, alert, and physically fit. There are many people today who would try to imitate them or try to get a taste of the “good life”.
Alpine had another ad that showed a white male in a suit tying his shoe, smoking a cigarette. The caption on the ad said “What are the ads like? Like this…Who put the men in menthol smoking? Alpine-that’s who!” The man in this ad appeared to be rich and upper-class. This ad was implying that cool men smoke menthol cigarettes, so if we want to be cool, we should smoke cigarettes. This type of ad was insidious, targeted to seduce those trying to fit in and impress others.
Subliminal ads are here to stay. Not all ads are bad. Since we are not able to screen out everything, we have to become more aware. Whether we are aware of it or not, we are all susceptible to ads, especially to the subliminal ones with their unseen but consciousness altering messages.