The hidden persuaders break into the tired brain

Abstract

There is a long-lasting debate on whether subliminal advertising actually works. In this context there are some studies suggesting that subjects’ motivation is a crucial point. Karremans et al. [Karremans, J. C., Stroebe, W., & Claus, J. (2006). Beyond Vicary’s fantasies: The impact of subliminal priming and brand choice. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 42, 792–798] showed that subjects were influenced in their intention to drink a specific brand of soft drink by a subliminally presented brand prime, but only if they were thirsty. In the present study, we adapted their paradigm to the concept of ‘concentration’ and embedded the subliminal presentation of a brand logo into a computer game. Actual subsequent consumption of dextrose pills (of the presented or a not presented brand) was measured dependent on the level of participants’ tiredness and the subliminally presented logo. We found the same pattern as Karremans et al. (2006): only tired participants consumed more of the subliminally presented than the not presented brand. Therefore, the findings confirm that subjects are influenced by subliminally presented stimuli if these stimuli are need-related and if subjects are in the matching motivational state

Warning: You are being primed! The effect of a warning on the impact of subliminal ads

“…However, the data of his study were never published, and when several scientific replication attempts failed (e.g., Hawkins, 1970;Weir, 1984), Vicary finally revealed his claim as a hoax. However, after years of controversy (Pratkanis & Greenwald, 1988;Trappey, 1996), subliminal advertising has recently been shown to be effective, but only under certain conditions (Bermeitinger et al, 2009;Karremans et al, 2006;Verwijmeren, Karremans, Stroebe, & Wigboldus, 2011). Research on this topic was re-instigated based on the more general finding that subliminal priming is more effective if the prime is goal-relevant.…”

Subliminal Cueing of Selection Behavior in a Virtual Environment

“…Many of these challenges are similar to those that are faced in subliminal persuasion in real life. For example, the influence that can be exerted with subliminal cueing in real-life situations seems to be constrained to goal-relevant behavior, such as lessening thirst (Strahan, Spencer, & Zanna, 2002) or relieving fatigue (Bermeitinger et al, 2009). Furthermore, subliminal priming is shown to be modulated by temporal (Naccache, Blandin, & Dehaene, 2002) and spatial attention (Kiefer & Brendel, 2006;Ortells, Frings, & Plaza-Ayllon, 2012).…”

De menselijke beslisser : Over de psychologie van keuze en gedrag

“…Recent onderzoek laat zien dat priming vooral effectief is in situaties waarin deze aansluiten bij de (gemoeds)toestand van de deelnemers in de doelgroep (Bermeitinger et al 2009;Karremans et al 2006). Wie dorst heeft, is gevoeliger voor steelse boodschappen waarin drank wordt aangeboden.…”