Research: What effect does subliminal advertising have on purchasing patterns?
Maana Shah, FLAME University class of 2026
For years now, big, multinational companies as well as small, homegrown brands have been using various advertising techniques to inform, influence, and promote their product/service to potential consumers. Advertisements are created in such a manner so that they have a lasting impact on the cognition and affection of a consumer. The way different companies choose to advertise their product varies each time; however, the central aim always is to promote the product and persuade the potential consumers to use it. There are numerous methods of advertising that companies engage in, from traditional advertising methods like newspaper, TV, radio, posters to the more modern way of social media advertising, brands attract customers in multiple ways. One such type of advertising is subliminal advertising.
Subliminal advertising is basically the use of images and sounds to influence consumers’ responses without them being consciously aware of it. So, unlike other forms of advertising where the consumer is aware that they are being subjected to an advert which has the goal of persuading them to buy a product, consumers subjected to subliminal advertising are unaware of this fact. This raises concerns regarding how ethical and moral subliminal advertising actually is.
Though the products advertised using subliminal advertising are usually only shown for a split-second, it is claimed to have a long-lasting effect having the ability to change and alter consumer buying decisions. However, researchers have also claimed that because the timeframe for which the product/service is displayed is so short, more often than usual such products/services go unnoticed. So, the main question is this: what effect does subliminal advertising actually have on purchasing patterns?
The research question mentioned above is important and must be addressed because while everyone knows that traditional forms of advertising do have an effect on consumers purchasing patterns, it is still ambiguous as to whether subliminal advertising has the same effects. Though subliminal advertising is banned in the United States, United Kingdom, Australia, and many other countries, welfare advocates globally can make use of this and previous research findings to safeguard consumers from tactics of subliminal exposure and make them aware of how it can influence their decisions. It is also necessary to talk about this research topic because according to a short survey conducted by the author of this research paper, only 30 out of 52 people have ever heard about subliminal advertising and hence, it is important that this question be answered and more awareness raised (see Appendix). Whether subliminal advertising actually affects human behaviour or not is still not certain and such research would be a good way to start.
In the following paragraphs, this paper will provide additional depth to the question of whether subliminal advertising has an effect on purchasing patterns. Firstly, the introduction of subliminal advertising by a market researcher is discussed and then the paper further discusses the effects of using subliminal messages in ads on youngsters and how it influences them but at the same time also has some drawbacks. A study by Dr. Yasir Ali Soomro is analysed along with a claim made by researchers from University College of London. Different types of subliminal advertising and an expert opinion is also taken into consideration and highlighted.
Let us go back to the year 1957, when subliminal advertising was first introduced by a market researcher named James Vickary. According to a research study by Sofi et al, Vickary inserted the words ‘eat popcorn’ and ‘drink Coca-Cola’ in a movie titled Picnic, for 1/3000 of a second at five second intervals. Though the words appeared for a single frame, one article in BBC suggests it was allegedly long enough for the subconscious mind to pick up, but too short for the viewer to be aware of it: it had the net effect of increasing the sales of Coca-Cola by 18.1% and that of popcorn by 57.8%. However, Vicary’s results are claimed to be misleading and a one of incident but experiments conducted over the past several years have proved that people are influenced by information in subliminal advertisements but only in small ways.
It is theorized that subliminal advertisement has most effect on youngsters by altering their purchasing intentions and compulsive buying tendencies while also having an impact on their physical and mental well-being. A study on the impact of subliminal advertising on consumer buying behaviour and in particular young Indian consumers, it was discovered that subliminal ads are used as a technique not only to increase sales but are also used to divert youth and involve them in behaviours which are hazardous to them. In the study the researchers particularly used 3 types of subliminal advertising techniques. Firstly, the effect of sexual actions in advertisements which is said to create excitement and may tempt the youth viewers to satisfy their biological needs through illicit relationships. Secondly, using metaphors unrelated to the product/service. And lastly, celebrity endorsements which, as reported, mostly affect the youth because of their vulnerability. Such techniques in general might create anxiety and as a result people might engage in smoking, drugs, and overeating.
In a different study, it was found that subliminal messages used in food advertising have an effect on and triggers unhealthy dietary behavior in viewers of such adverts, most importantly children, which lead to unhealthy eating habits and binge consumption. Furthermore, as per a short survey conducted by the author of this paper it was found that out of the 52 young respondents, 61.5% think and agree that have been subjected to subliminal advertising and an equal percentage of respondents believe that subliminal advertising has had an effect on their purchases (see Appendix). While this section only focused on the effects of subliminal advertising on youngsters, subliminal advertising does have an impact on other groups in the society as well.
In 2018, Dr. Yasir Ali Soomro conducted a study which mainly looked at the differences of the effects of subliminal advertising between marketing and non-marketing professionals. Through his study it was found that both marketing and non-marketing professionals view and perceive the subliminal messages embedded in ads with a statistically significant difference mainly because marketers have a significant difference in their knowledge and attitude towards subliminal content. Along with this another interesting finding was that females exposed to subliminal ads are more likely to show irrational behaviour than men. Another noteworthy contribution around this topic was done by researches when they assessed the influence of subliminal priming on goal related cognition, for which they used soft drink as the product and thirst as the ‘goal’. The results of the study showed that for the thirsty participants; subliminal priming did persuade them to choose the product. However, those who were not thirsty were not motivated towards the product; subliminal priming did not persuade them to choose the product. This study helped make an important revelation that subliminal priming is only successful if there is some sort of pre-existing motivation towards the primed product amongst the consumers.
While it may seem that any type of subliminal message in ads will have the same effect, a team of researchers from University College of London claim that subliminal messaging is most effective when the message being conveyed is negative. To test this, they carried out a study wherein 50 participants were shown words on a computer screen. The study stated that words were either positive (cheerful, flower, and peace) or negative (agony, despair, and murder) or neutral (box, ear, and kettle) and were shown only for a fraction of second ,meaning they were too fast for the participants to consciously read. The participants were then asked to choose whether the word was neutral or emotional. The final findings of this experiment were that participants answered more accurately when they were responding to negative words even if they were simply guessing. The findings from this study could ostensibly be used in real world for good reasons, such as for public service announcements for safety campaigns. Like suggested by Professor Lavie, using the phrase with the negative words, ‘kill your speed’ instead of the phrase ‘slow down’ or highlighting on a competitor’s negative points rather than advertising your own positive points will be more beneficial.
There are many different types of subliminal advertising, and various different ways in which they are used. For instance, like mentioned in an article, back masking features a voice recording played backward on a track or recording that plays forward. Sub- visual messaging shows subtle visual cues to viewers like a hidden message within a logo and sub audible messaging; messages are inserted into another audio like a song or an interview recording. When asked what effect does subliminal advertising have on purchasing pattern, Professor Sandip Roy said, “any hidden message if shared in a creative way can impact a set of evolved consumers (niche higher socio-economic strata), however if the message is used as a trick for double meaning it can lead to consumer backlash so evidence supporting impact on purchasing patterns with subliminal advertising is rare — hence you will not see too many ads” (personal interview). Some ads including creative messages already do exist. For example, Amazon, where the arrow goes from A to Z, indicating that Amazon sells all sorts of products, and FedEx, the logo arrow going forward is an indication of speed and progression which makes sense because FedEx is a company that transports things, or SFX magazine, where they tactically hid the bottom of the letter F suggesting the real title to be SEX. All these various points in some way or the other support the argument that subliminal advertising is effective, however, the degree to which it impacts a customer’s purchasing patterns varies each time and is not constant.
After having a brief idea of whether subliminal advertising is effect or not further research into this topic can be made by focusing on questions such as, which category of subliminal advertising do the consumers react to and recall the most? Or a question like whether subliminal advertising should be banned more widely than it currently is? Due to lack of space this research paper could not touch upon the topics of banning subliminal advertising in India, how ethical subliminal advertising actually is, and its potential long-term social disadvantages. Future research into these topics should be done for a clearer understanding. Overall, subliminal advertising does have an effect on consumer behaviour but not always in the same manner and with the same intensity.
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