Sociology 2172A/B Lecture Notes - Lecture 5: Subliminal Stimuli, Durex, James Vicary
23 May 2018
School
Department
Course
Professor
Advertising: Sex Sells
Examples
●Quiznos’ “toasty torpedo” commercial with the toaster
●Burger King’s “It’ll blow your mind away”
●Tom Ford’s perfume
●Phallic imagery
●Durex lube ad with wet cat
●Dolce and Gabanna’s mock gang rape scenes
●Cadeaux’s ad with a ten-year-old child in fashion ad
○France banned ads that sexualize children and infantilize women
Subliminal Advertising
●70% of people think that subliminal advertising is used and that it works
●No clear evidence that it works
●Witch Test
○Comes from the story of holding women suspected of witchcraft underwater and if they drowned she wasn’t
a witch but it’s too late because she’s dead
○Look at an ad - if you see subliminal advertising then it’s not subliminal anymore
●Ex. Colgate’s something in your teeth ads
●Originator of term: James Vicary in 1957
○“Eat popcorn” and “drink coca-cola”
■During a movie they flashed these messages across the screen so quickly the audience didn’t see it
■Sales of popcorn and coke went up
■There was difficulty replicating the study and turns out it was entirely falsified
●Embedded Images
○Wilson Bryan Key - 1970s
■Subliminal Seduction
■Media Sexploitation
○Use of subliminal sexual symbols or objects
○“Sex” supposedly written on Ritz Crackers
○Beer ad with four supposed sexual symbols
○Camel Cigarettes ad
○Coke image of woman in ice
○Lipstick ad
○Skittles “berry (s)explosion”
○Suggestion: companies aren’t actually making these subliminal ads - individuals are adding these symbols in
themselves
○KFC ad where they told viewers to rewind and look for messages - telling people to go to their website
Controversy For Decades
●Inconsistent use of the term “subliminal”
●Lack of precise and standardized processes
●Lack of adequate conception of unconscious processes
Document Summary
Quiznos" toasty torpedo commercial with the toaster. Dolce and gabanna"s mock gang rape scenes. Cadeaux"s ad with a ten-year-old child in fashion ad. France banned ads that sexualize children and infantilize women. 70% of people think that subliminal advertising is used and that it works. Comes from the story of holding women suspected of witchcraft underwater and if they drowned she wasn"t a witch but it"s too late because she"s dead. Look at an ad - if you see subliminal advertising then it"s not subliminal anymore. Originator of term: james vicary in 1957. During a movie they flashed these messages across the screen so quickly the audience didn"t see it. There was difficulty replicating the study and turns out it was entirely falsified. Use of subliminal sexual symbols or objects. Suggestion: companies aren"t actually making these subliminal ads - individuals are adding these symbols in themselves.
