Subliminal advertising has gone mainstream - fake news, mind control scripts, propaganda and stealth voicemail are in wide use by corporations, government bodies and industry groups.
By Martin Howard
Author of We Know What You
Want: How They Change Your Mind
Some of the biggest advertisers are taking their advertising away from full page ads and television spots and spending up on hidden persuasion. You won't find these secret messages in ice-cubes or flickering film footage like they were in the sixties. Subliminal advertising has gone mainstream - fake news, mind control scripts, propaganda and stealth voicemail are in wide use by corporations, government bodies, and industry groups. Have you spotted any of these?
1. Point of Sale Mind Control
Scripts
Clothing store staff and car salesmen use them to close the deal - carefully
planned questions and subverbal cues to get you to sign. If you’ve ever walked
out of a store, after spending twice as much as you wanted to, chances are
you’ve fallen victim to one of these scripts. The GAPACT is used by Gap staff to
upsell you. Other salesmen use word techniques to make you buy, even when you
don’t have the money - because they make more by selling you 'easy' finance.
When a car salesmen takes you on a test drive and asks you “Is this the type of
vehicle you would like to own?”, he is using a subtle mental framing trick - it
can create an embarrassing distraction while you drive. The technique is called
disassociation - which is the ideal state for mental manipulation.
2. Doctor-Patient Drug Kick-backs
When a doctor recommends a certain heart medication or an antidepressant,
chances are he has been paid a cash bonuses and perks by the manufacturer,
making it difficult to give objective advice. Some pharmaceutical firms have
gone so far as to invent and promote a new syndrome in order to create a market
for a new drug! Social Anxiety Disorder (SAD) was devised in 1998 and publicised
by planting fifty press stories and quizzes such as: “Do you have social anxiety
disorder?”. Soon after, Smithkline Beecham released Paxil - the 'cure' for SAD.
3. In-Store Sensory Manipulation
Scientifically tested visual displays, Muzak tapes, and even mind altering
scents combine to maximize impulse spending. Specially designed music loops can
keep shoppers in the supermarket for 18% longer. One study into use of airborne
aromas, pumped into a Canadian mall, resulted in an increase of over $50 per
customer that week. In supermarkets, scientifically generated Planograms create
the ideal shelf arrangement for certain products, skewing the shopper's eyes
towards high value items. Companies pay slotting allowances for favoured
placement. Aisle layout are change regularly - which prevents systematic
shopping - forcing extra trips past the impulse item displays.
4. Private Conversation Rental
Positive buzz can be triggered artificially for a price. Marketers now
recruit secret 'buzz agents' to promote to their friends and family. One buzz
agency claims to have an army of agents in every major US city. Their job is to
mention or display certain products as they go about their day, using their
relationships as marketing channels. Music labels, book sellers, entertainment
venues, and fashion outlets are using this method to establish new brands.
Today’s billion dollar 12-16 year olds are so immune to traditional advertising,
mass media is no longer a reliable persuasive device - so the alternative is a
'synthetic grapevine.’
5. Neuromarketing
Corporations are going to enormous lengths to probe the minds of consumers -
literally tapping into their brains. The Brighthouse Institute for Thought
Sciences, in Atlanta, is one lab that is scanning people's brains with MRIs, in
an effort to decode and record our subconscious thoughts and devise more
seductive advertising. The process is being called neuromarketing. They are
hoping to determine specific biological triggers that can be used by language
engineers to stimulate purchases. This is the hi-tech fulfilment of pioneer
psychologists Freud and Jung who established the connection between language and
behaviour.
6. Chatbots and Stealth Voicemail
Personal phone messages from businesses or political campaigners can turn up
in your morning voicemail, having been delivered late the previous night.
Voicemail broadcasters like DialAmerica uses massive computer installations to
deliver identical copies of spoken messages to millions of householder
simultaneously. On the internet, chat room 'bots' masquerading as personal real
buddies are actually distributed simultaneously by powerful computers 24 hours a
day. Virtual word-of-mouth communication is replacing other promotional
technologies because of its speed and price.
7. Real-time Bugging of Personal
Data
Your browser is probably revealing more than you might want: your location,
the software and hardware you are using, details of other links you clicked on
and your browsing habits. Many third party dataminers use 'cookies' to track
your path across the web. Extensive realtime information is processed to target
you. Larger databases harvest your personal medical and financial records to be
bought and sold by interested companies and government departments. Datamining
is a fuzzy science that filters you personal information for links about your
personal behaviour and finances. These details are used in turn to create
elaborate marketing campaigns to sell you more stuff.
8. Sidewalk Stalkers
The public space of streets, neighborhoods and communities is being mapped
and targeted by viral marketers and fake grassroots organizations. In some cases
the campaigns are overt but, increasingly, street 'agents' are making
unannounced social approaches. Fake tourists flash around the latest
camera-phone to passing crowds. 'Product seeders' circulate at sports events to
find influential young players to wear their gear. Others wander the street
wearing colored corporate tattoos. Personal space is the last frontier for
commerce. As citizens attempt to retreat from the deluge of media advertising
they can now be stalked when they step out the door.
9. Planted News Stories
Industry front groups, public relations firms and government departments are
planting news stories on TV, radio, newspapers and the web. Those 'miracle drug'
stories or research reports are often Video News Release (VNRs). TV newsrooms
love these prepackaged news items that are distributed across the networks. It
saves them time and money but it is killing community news and genuine
investigative reporting. Real news items are being replaced by slick corporate
promotions and political messages. According to one Nielsen Media Research
Survey, about 80 percent of U.S. news directors air VNRs several times a month,
and all American television newsrooms now use VNRs in their newscasts.
10. Government Propaganda
When it's time to launch a war or promote an unpopular policy, the
government needs special help to sell the idea through the media. Opinion
engineers are paid to "manage" public perception of inconvenient facts, and turn
them around for better. Using the universal tools fear, patriotism, and phrase
repetition, these high flying spin doctors can easily sway the population. The
most successful public relations campaigns aim to change public perception
without our awareness of the campaign. They are typically launched by
governments, institutions and countries who need to change their public image,
restore their reputation or manipulate public opinion. There are PR firms today
who advise dictatorships, dishonest politicians and corrupt industries to cover
up environmental catastrophes and human rights violations.