Earlier this month when the Bush campaign came under fire for flashing the word “RATS” on a television commercial for one-thirteenth of a second, in reference to his opponent, Vice President Al Gore, it raised the question of whether subliminal advertising is ethical, and whether it actually works. Phil Rivers, president of Providence ad agency RDW Group said the tactic creates a degree of uncertainty and mistrust amongst viewers.
”People are assuming someone is trying to trick them,” he said. “You’re sending a message without saying it.”
Rhode Island's Market Has Changed. Developers, Builders, Investors and Sellers Must Change With It.
By Emilio DiSpirito IV License Partner | Engel & Völkers Oceanside Leader | The DiSpirito…
Learn More
He said it is difficult enough to have an advertisement received well when the message is stated directly.
”The hallmark of a good ad is to have a message and state it in a way that you want the audience to receive it,” he said.
Jon Duffy, president of Providence ad agency Duffy & Shanley, agreed.
”Marketers spend billions of dollars on overt attempts to reach consumers,” he said. “Research has shown that these efforts vary in effectiveness.”
“We like to look at unaided awareness over recall of advertising messages,” said Duffy. “Again, these results may vary, but many marketers have low recalland these results are with very straightforward approaches – no subliminal messages.”
Audrey Guskey, a professor of marketing at Duquesne University in Pittsburgh, and a specialist in advertising trends, thinks it was a bad idea to feature the word “RATS” in the commercial as such. She said it was featured too long to be entirely subliminal, but not long enough to appear like direct negative campaigning.
Guskey also said she was surprised by the campaign’s carelessness, because advertising a politician is more delicate than advertising a product.
“Political advertising is a whole different ballgame,” she said. “There’s more involved than marketing a product: It’s individuals and philosophies.”
She said subliminal advertising is even rare in marketing products.
“When you’re dealing with consumer companies or services, these companies are trying to convey positive images,” she said. “Most companies don’t want to set themselves apart in a negative way.”
“I was just surprised they did it,” she said. “It’s almost like an outdated thing. Why would they do that now?”
Rivers thinks the people responsible for the slot have fallen into the trap of trying to be too cute, and that subliminal advertising is spoken of in the ad industry in more of a comical thing than anything else is.
“When you want to transmit an idea or impression,” he said, “you want it to be clear and uncomplicated.”
Duffy doubts there is any effectiveness at all to subliminal ads.
“If the ‘in your face’ messages are not successful,” he said, “why in the world would you try stealth attempts to an audience that has low involvement with the medium, i.e. TV?”
