Prepared by Robert Gass and John Seiter
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Color has symbolic meaning
 At birth, girls are wrapped in pink blankets, boys in blue
 Patriotic colors
 Executives wear “power “colors
 Fans identify with sports teams through color
 Jobs are categorized as “white collar,” “blue collar,” “green collar,” “pink collar,” etc.
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Colors have attitudinal associations
 In old westerns, good guys wear white hats, bad guys wear black
 Brides wear white to symbolize purity
 Red is associated with sexiness
 Black attire signifies formality
 Going “green” is trendy and eco-conscious
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Negative connotations of the word “black” black sheep blackball blacklist black cat black heart black humor black comedy blackmail black day black eye black widow black mark
Positive associations with the word “black” black tie event little black dress in the black black belt black Friday
______ is the new black
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Attitudinal associations with the color red
 A red dress is associated with sexiness
 The “red pen” effect in grading papers
 Stereotypes about redheads or “gingers”
 Red is associated with danger, hazards, warnings
 A red cross symbolizes a hospital
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McDonald’s
 Golden arches
T-Mobil
 Bright magenta
Tiffany
 Robin’s egg blue
Livestrong Foundation
 Yellow bracelets
Susan G. Komen Foundation
 Pink ribbon
Product Red
John Deere tractors are easily recognizable by their patented green and yellow colors
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Colorism
 Colorism refers to the use of skin tone as a status marker
 Interracial prejudice surrounds skin color
 “Whiteness” is often privileged over “Blackness”
 Slavery and segregation in the
U.S.
 India’s caste system
 Brazilian expression, “Money whitens”
Color complex
 Refers more to intra-racial color prejudice
 Belief in the superiority of light skin, European hair,
Anglo facial features
 Phenomenon known as
“passing”
 “bleaching syndrome” using products to lighten one’s skin
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We often equate colors with moods
 seeing red
 green with envy
 feeling blue
 tickled pink
Ambient colors can affect moods ,emotions
 Primary colors: bold, lively, energetic
 Pastels: calming, relaxing
 Warm colors; red, yellow, orange
 Cool colors; blue, green, purple
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Color and behavior
 Food coloring is used to make many foods more appealing; cheese meat, produce
 Food color signifies freshness, quality, taste
 Flavor preference
 People snacked more when eating from blue plates than red plates
 Hot chocolate tasted better in an orange or dark cream cup than a red or white cup
(Piqueras-Fiszman & Spence
(2012)
Red pen effect; exposure to the color red activates negative attitudes, harsher grading
Color-aggression link
 Some evidence suggests that wearing black uniforms correlates with aggressive behavior
Color and traffic tickets
 Despite conventional wisdom, red cars are not more prone to traffic tickets
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75% of Americans believe that subliminal messages are omnipresent in advertising, and that they work (Rogers & Seiler,
1994)
Why?
 James Vicary’s alleged movie theater experiment in 1957
 Wilson Brian Keys claims of planted images in advertising
 Subliminals in Disney movies and other media
 Media spoofs of subliminals
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1.
Embedded images: pictures or words that are hidden or flashed quickly (in 100ths of a second)
2.
Sub-audible messages: sounds or words that are too faint to be heard, or are played at extremely high frequencies
3.
Electronically altered signals: backward masking and other voice alterations
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Subliminal message
Below (sub) the threshold (limen) of human perception
 Example: a message flashed so quickly that it can’t be recognized
 Example: a sound played so faintly that it can’t be heard
Embedding is a form of subliminal influence
Supraliminal message
A message that is consciously recognized and processed
 Example: an image so faint that it is difficult to see
 Example: a sound that is played quietly, yet is still audible
Product placement is a form of supraliminal influence
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James Vicary claimed to have flashed the words “eat popcorn” and “Drink
Coca-Cola” on a movie screen
He claimed popcorn sales increased
58% and Coke sales increased 18%
Vicary’s experiment was never successfully replicated
He later acknowledged the study was a hoax
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The prospect of “mind control” is frightening
It’s fun to entertain conspiracy theories
The popular press sensationalizes the issue
There are just enough isolated cases to keep the myth alive
However, the mere existence of subliminal images, does not prove their effectiveness
Methodological shortcomings
 lack of control groups
 lack of double-blind procedures
 possibility of bias or cueing
 lack of replication
 lack of rigorous “blind” review
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Product placement is commonplace
Product placement is a form of supraliminal persuasion
Product placement may be subtle, but it is not subliminal
The brand’s sponsors want viewers to recognize their brands
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Subliminal priming has been well documented in controlled laboratory settings
 Stimuli can be perceived or processed without conscious awareness
Priming can produce changes in beliefs, attitudes, and behavior
Commercial applications of subliminal priming have not been demonstrated
 Flashing “Starbucks” will not make a consumer buy that brand of coffee
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Priming occurs when a word is flashed quickly, then masked or covered up
The primed word is shown too quickly to be consciously recognized
The mask is removed and subjects see how quickly they recognize the word
Subjects who are primed recognize the word faster than subjects who are not primed mask
#### prime
SALT
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Patton (1992) exposed “normal” and “bulimia prone” females to one of three subliminal messages:
 A. “Mama is leaving me” (Separation anxiety message)
 B. “Mona is loaning it”
 C. “Mama is loaning it”
Afterward, the females were invited to participate in a taste-test involving crackers
The “bulimia prone” females who were exposed to message A ate twice as many crackers as the females in the other two groups
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priming effects are short-lived
The subliminal prime must still be perceived, even if perception is without awareness
There is no proof of commercial viability
Beware of the fallacy that “presence” implies
“effectiveness”
Even in controlled laboratory settings, subliminal effects tend to be weak and transitory
Difficulty of proving a negative (e.g. that there aren’t subliminals everywhere)
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NLP is touted by motivational speakers and self-help books
 Proponents claim that certain words possess nearly hypnotic power
 People supposedly rely on internal representations which favor one sense over another
 Words can appeal to visual, kinesthetic (tactile and visceral), auditory, olfactory, gustatory (taste) senses
 Representational systems can be “read” via nonverbal cues or “accessing cues”
 A person who looks up is relying on visual processing
 A person who looks horizontally is relying on auditory processing
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There is no evidence that certain words have a hypnotic effect on people
The direction of a person’s gaze is not a reliable sign of his/her thinking process
7 out of 8 studies examining a link between information processing and eye movements found no evidence supporting NLP’s predictions (Witkowski,
2012, p. 36)
“the vast majority of research studies have not supported either the fundamental tenets or the techniques of NLP” (Witkowski, 2012, p. 37)
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Music can function as a mnemonic device or memory aid
Background music can
 affect shopping pace
 enhance moods
 improve task performance
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Music can function as both a central and peripheral cue
Music is widely used in advertising
The mere exposure effect
 Repeated exposure to a novel stimulus, such as a jingle, increases liking for the stimulus.
Music as a mnemonic device
 Like a good neighbor________ is there
 Break me off a piece of that _________ bar
Background music
 Affects mood, shopping behavior
 Risk of habituation (desensitization)
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Critics charge that rock and rap videos promote:
 materialism
 drug use
 violence
 sexual objectification of women
Advocates claim music videos:
 empower subcultures
 offer social commentary
 mirror problems already present in society
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Loud, blaring music was used during enhanced interrogations
Unpopular music has been used to discourage loitering
 Driving away adolescents with classical music
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The fragrance industry is selling romance in a bottle
Fragrances function as peripheral cues
Studies on the effectiveness of fragrances are mixed
Aromas have been shown to:
 alter moods
 improve task performance
 make shoppers linger in stores
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Caveats and cautions
 Smell preferences are highly idiosyncratic
 Overreliance on smells could produce desensitization
 Smells may result in counter-conditioning
(boomerang effect)
 Some people are sensitive to smells (allergies, gag reflexes, etc.)
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