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Business Ethics
Dr. Emmanuel Nkwenti
ELVIS FRU CHI
Date: April 3, 2007
Bulletin Board Presentation: Subliminal Advertising
What is subliminal advertising? I first learn of subliminal advertising in this class and I
decided to look further to see how amazing companies have gone to, searching for ways
to market their products spending millions of dollars to get their way through our daily
lives without us realizing the games they are playing with our subconscious. I have heard
of naked women in ice cubes floating on soft drinks. Sometimes it seems all of these is
pure madness because we follow advert without taking sometime off to look at what
actually the ad is aiming at. Subliminal perception as defined by the advanced learner
dictionary means ‘below threshold’, by this it pulls illusion to putting something in the
dark whereby upon illuminating can be seen clearly. Therefore subliminal massages are
conceive such that the brain subconsciously perceives it but are not consciously aware of
it.
Subliminal advertising has been in practice since the 40s and has increasingly been use
today by advertisers. Its use has been facilitated by the growth of technology such as
computers with increased graphic designs. This has facilitated the transformation of
symbolic subliminal ads to more embedded ads. These concerns will be best explained on
a power point that will feature pictures and some interpretations.
According to Dr Lechnar (1998) “it is obvious that tapping into the consumer’s
unconscious mind without their knowledge, the advertisers are engaging in deceptive
practices. It is an invasion of privacy”, an action which violates a deontologist view. The
question of the worthiness raises not only ethical questions but also legal questions.
Therefore is this legal and/or ethical? The question of its legality has a definite answer
which is “NO”. There are several legislatures that have banned the use of subliminal ads
The FTC (Federal Trade Commission) Act Sec 5- “prohibits unfair or deceptive acts or
practices in interstate commerce.” The TV Code of the National Association of
Broadcasters (IV, 14) states: “Any technique whereby an attempt is made to convey
information to the viewer by transmitting messages below the threshold of normal
awareness is not permitted”. The U.S. Treasury Department, Division of Alcohol,
Tobacco and Firearms (ATF) states “ subliminals are inherently deceptive because the
consumer does not perceive them at a normal level of awareness and thus is given no
choice whether to accept or reject the message, as is the case with normal advertising. It
is therefore false and deceptive, and prohibited by law’. The problem with the legality is
not the absent of law but the aspect of proving that there are embedded messages such as
naked women in ice cubes floating on soft drinks, the kkk on the pack of a Marlboro pack
of cigarettes, a sex word in Disney’s Lion king, the use or women as advertising
objects(Calvin Klein) due to our increasing love for sexual objects ( this aspects can be
well understand with the power point presentation that will follow after this
paper).Unfortunately even with the passage of these laws advertisers have made their
way through with millions of dollars spent on R& D on subliminal advertising. Yet all the
laws in place are not being enforced.
The ethical issues are even complex when companies are face with these issues and
increase competition in the market. The increasing need to maximize profit for some
group of the stakeholders implies fighting with the global market to grape a piece of the
cake. In an attempt to survive companies have engaged in a lot of activities such as
subliminal advertising to increase profits and meet with other obligations leading to
several ethical questions. Yet as we all know the aspects of ethical questions rest in
ethical decision making and corporate governance which all depends on our moral
philosophies and its intensity, the stages of the cognitive moral development,
organizational culture, significant others and opportunity Ferrell, Fraedrich, Ferrell
(2005: 76)
As I pass by billboards, watch ads which basically show up every 5 to 10mins when the
news is being aired on CNN, or a nice movie is on TNT, it amaze me how unknowingly I
have been deceived by all these ads, and how our failure to pull sex out of our lives and
the recognition of advertisers of this general weakness has lead to our exploitations
leading to bigger pay checks for sales persons and even bigger profit for large
corporations while our subconscious remain unconscious and unaware.
I will like to focus the next part of my presentation on your subconscious minds, so we
can all see how advertisers have been taking advantage of us. This will be in a form of a
puzzle and will be done through some power points slides.
Works Cited
Ferrell, O.C., Fraedrich, John, Ferrell, Linda. (2005). Business Ethics: Ethical Decision
Making and Cases. U.S.A.: Houghton Mifflin Company.
LECHNAR, (June 1998). Subliminal advertising , 20th century brainwashing and what’s
hidden in the Microsoft logo. http://www.searchlores.org/realicra/sublimi.htm
(cited 2 April 2007.).
FTC, http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/rulemaking/funeral/funrlprac.pdf
(Retrieve 04/03/07)
ATF, http://www.atf.gov/regulations/td483.pdf
(Retrieve 04/03/07)
NAB, http://www.nab.org/AM/Template.cfm?Section=Home
(Retrieve 04/03/07)