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A variety of research programs have found that subliminal stimuli can influence our judgments
and behavior, at least in the short term (Dijksterhuis, 2010). [4] But whether the presentation of
subliminal stimuli can influence the products that we buy has been a more controversial topic in
psychology. In one relevant experiment, Karremans, Stroebe, and Claus (2006) [5] had Dutch
college students view a series of computer trials in which a string of letters such
as BBBBBBBBB or BBBbBBBBB were presented on the screen. To be sure they paid attention to
the display, the students were asked to note whether the strings contained a small b. However,
immediately before each of the letter strings, the researchers presented either the name of a drink
that is popular in Holland (Lipton Ice) or a control string containing the same letters as Lipton
Ice (NpeicTol). These words were presented so quickly (for only about one fiftieth of a second)
that the participants could not see them.
Then the students were asked to indicate their intention to drink Lipton Ice by answering
questions such as “If you would sit on a terrace now, how likely is it that you would order Lipton
Ice,” and also to indicate how thirsty they were at the time. The researchers found that the
students who had been exposed to the “Lipton Ice” words (and particularly those who indicated
that they were already thirsty) were significantly more likely to say that they would drink Lipton
Ice than were those who had been exposed to the control words.
If it were effective, procedures such as this (we can call the technique “subliminal advertising”
because it advertises a product outside awareness) would have some major advantages for
advertisers, because it would allow them to promote their products without directly interrupting
the consumers’ activity and without the consumers’ knowing they are being persuaded. People
cannot counterargue with, or attempt to avoid being influenced by, messages received outside
awareness. Due to fears that people may be influenced without their knowing, subliminal
advertising has been legally banned in many countries, including Australia, Great Britain, and
the United States.
Although it has been proven to work in some research, subliminal advertising’s effectiveness is
still uncertain. Charles Trappey (1996) [6]conducted a meta-analysis in which he combined 23
leading research studies that had tested the influence of subliminal advertising on consumer
choice. The results of his meta-analysis showed that subliminal advertising had a negligible