Subliminal Influence at the Supermarket: Part Two

This is the second article in a four-part series: read part one first: Subliminal Influence at the Supermarket: Part One . In this second part, I explore the history of subliminal messaging and recount my attempts to contact supermarket executives.

Perhaps the most famous study concerning subliminal manipulation is an experiment allegedly held by James Vicary in 1957 at a cinema in New Jersey, where viewers of a film were repeatedly shown advertisements for Coca-Cola and popcorn that lasted for 0.03 seconds. Vicary claimed that this subliminal messaging significantly boosted sales of both products. However, the fact that Vicary’s study was never published led to considerable doubt about the validity of the results, and it was later revealed in an interview with Advertising Age that “the original study was a fabrication intended to increase customers for his failing marketing business.” The experiment did however raise awareness of the ostensible possibilities of subliminal influence, leading to new laws which prohibited its use in the public media; the use of subliminal messaging in advertising in the UK is still effectively outlawed today. As the the Broadcast Committee of Advertising Practice’s Television Advertising Standards Codestates:

“No advertisement may use images of very brief duration, or any other technique which is likely to influence viewers, without their being fully aware of what has been done.” 

Judas Priest, the unlikely defendants in a subliminal influence court battle

Some years later the issue surrounding the legality and ethics of subliminal messaging arose again, this time in the Judas Priest Trial in 1990. Judas Priest, a former British heavy metal rock band, were sued by the parents of James Vance, a 20-year-old who had attempted suicide with friend Ray Belknap five years previously in 1985. Belknap had died instantly in the incident, while Vance survived with severe injuries, dying of ‘drug complications’ three years later.Vance’s parents alleged that subliminal messages including “do it” hidden in one of the band’s songs which the boys had listened to before attempting to commit suicide had contributed to their suicidal impulse. The band denied all knowledge of any subliminal messages in their music, and the judge ruled in their favour, declaring:

“The scientific research presented does not establish that subliminal stimuli, even if perceived, may precipitate conduct of this magnitude … The strongest evidence presented at the trial showed no behavioral effects other than anxiety, distress or tension.” 

However, neither of these cases has seemed to dissuade people of the reality of subliminal influence; every year millions buy subliminal self-help books and tapes to help them lose weight or improve their self-esteem, yet research shows that these are almost entirely ineffective. In 1991, three scientists tested the effectiveness of commercially available subliminal self-help tapes that claimed to do just that — after a month of use they found that none of the tapes produced their claimed effects.

When in the shopping mindset, shoppers are more willing to spend money to satisfy their needs or obtain pleasures.

More recent experiments, however, have shown that subliminal messages can actually affect human behaviour. A study by scientists at Harvard University in 1999 used a method similar to that Vicary used in 1957; subjects were asked to play a computer game in which a series of words flashed onscreen for a few thousandths of a second. One half of the test group were primed with positive words such as ‘wise’ and ‘accomplished.’ The other half were showed words like ‘senile’ and ‘dependent.’ Those who received the more positive words were recorded as leaving the room significantly faster and with greater purpose than those who were shown the more negative set.

While these cases seem to suggest that subliminal messaging has little effect on our behaviour, a large amount of research has been carried out over the years that has concluded that subliminal techniques used in a retail environment are vastly more effective. This research suggests that unlike any other kind of manipulation, retail manipulation is more powerful because when at the supermarket, consumers are already in the shopping mindset and are willing to spend money to satisfy their needs or obtain pleasures. In other words, it plays on an already existing emotion or thought process — all it takes is a little extra persuasion. This goes some way to explaining why we are so susceptible to this kind of suggestion. In addition to this, the influence needs only to last for a fraction of a second, since the decisions it affects are relatively minor. Another reason could simply be that supermarkets do not hide anything. Unlike Vicary’s messages, which flashed inconspicuously for 0.03 seconds, everything that is influencing you in the supermarket environment is there in plain sight, all the time. Many people just aren’t aware that subliminal stimuli exist there. As psychologist Dave Lakhani explains, “It’s not about lying or tricking anyone, it’s about knowing what will appeal to people and how to communicate that appeal effectively and profitably.”

This study focuses on those techniques used particularly in the supermarket: if they do influence our behaviour subliminally, how do they do it? And perhaps more importantly, how can we avoid falling victim to it?

Good marketing or shady practice?

Renowned Tesco-basher Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall

Supermarkets are notoriously secretive about their marketing techniques and business operations, with little to no related literature available to view on their websites. Television programmes such as Hugh’s Chicken Run , first aired as part of Channel 4’s Food Fight series in 2008, demonstrated to me that getting to talk to anyone of importance about sensitive business practices such as subliminal influence was going to be difficult. Nevertheless, I was aware that celebrity television documentaries can often be dramatized and dishonestly edited, and I contacted both my local stores and the head offices of all ‘Big Four’ supermarkets in an attempt to gain first-hand information about the techniques they use to influence buyers’ purchasing choices. I asked them if they could tell me more about how they got shoppers to buy more by the manipulating the layout of their stores.

While the customer service representatives who answered my calls were friendly and helpful (and seemed genuinely interested), the higher I was passed up the chain of management the more suspicious and unhelpful the responses became.The store manager of Tesco Extra Gatwick passed on a message that mine was “not a call he was willing to take,” and further calls to the head office were repeatedly redirected back to my local ‘community champion .’ It seemed that nobody was willing to disclose any information or assist with my enquiries.

The more consumers know about how they are being influenced, the easier it becomes for them to look out for it and avoid it.

The reasons for both the friendliness and the reluctance to talk strike me as clear: while it is important for supermarkets to appear welcoming to and connected with their customers (happier shoppers tend to buy more), the more consumers know about how they are being influenced, the easier it becomes for them to look out for it and avoid it; as discussed earlier, subliminal influence works best on those who do not suspect its presence. “Their best secret is secrecy,” I was told by a Retail Strategy Consultant who has worked with all five of the world’s largest grocers and retailers. It certainly seemed like the retail businesses I spoke to were being secretive when I tried to ask them for any information, although I also had to bear in mind that answering my questions was most likely not one of their top priorities. Even still, I knew there was something going on here and I was determined to get to the bottom of it.