Austin Fontaine 
Megan Novelli 
Our discussion the other day in class over the unconscious and priming was really interesting to me. We learned that people walk slower after they are primed with words related to old people and that people are more aggressive when they see words related to aggression. This made me wonder, how much of our behavior can we attribute to our unconscious perception of visual stimuli? In the field of psychology, it would be ignorant to believe that one has complete control over their own behavior, but as a person I like to think that I choose to behave how I want to. Yet, experiments on the unconscious show that people are influenced to behave a certain way without even realizing it. How often do we do and say things only because of how we were primed right before we did them? One thing that comes to mind when I think about this is subliminal messaging. The Budweiser ad is just a simple example of messages that you do not realize are there. Subliminal messaging is very interesting to me. How much do these messages prime us for a desired product or sexual behavior? Some of the subliminal messages that I came across looked normal to the untrained eye, but when pointed out the messages for very explicit and almost pornographic. These messages are a cause for concern when you think about how many you see daily. These messages are not only in advertisements, but also in movies and television. Even Disney adds scenes to their movies that are so quick that they go undetected. Knowing that the research shows that priming influences thoughts and behaviors makes me wonder how much of an affect they are having on me subconsciously. I think the important thing is to be aware of what stimuli you are experiencing. Of course, if you are perceiving stimuli unconsciously then its difficult to be aware of it.
Jeremiah Blalock
10:11 am, 11.22.10
that is a very good point! it is a very huge thing today, subliminal advertising. We need to be aware of exactly what goes on around us fully, as well as deeply, lest we fall victim to priming. It’s not always bad, but it is a point of sheer manipulation. great post!
Jonathan Sanders
11:04 am, 11.22.10
Subliminal messages have been around for a lot longer than I think anyone would be willing to admit. Any product that has to do with narcotics or alcohol will be loaded with said subliminal messages to counter the hazards of using the actual product. Subliminal messages also border on social controls if used in the right venues such as politics, television, etc…
Bradley Campbell
11:21 am, 11.22.10
Rachel, great post. I worked in advertising for several years (at the local level) and it’s sad how much of a science it has become. In that world money is king. I really was fascinated by the two pictures above…I have never seen that before.
Ian Robertson
11:44 am, 11.22.10
I thinnk that the pictures are great examples of subliminal messaging. It’s interesting to think about how we might be influenced to purchase items based on the “messages.” However, I think it’s important to note that the effects of subliminal messaging has a short term effect and doesn’t last long. However, I’m not sure if that fact will comfort anyone that is really worried about these sort of “messages.”
Courtney Price
12:23 pm, 11.22.10
I never noticed that on the budwiser boxes before! So, needless to say I just laughed and looked like a fool in the library. I couldn’t get the last two pictures to load. But I agree with Juice, now that advertising has become a “science” as Bradley says, we really need to be more aware of how that affects us.
Anne Weaver
12:27 pm, 11.22.10
Marketing has done an amazing job at letting us know what we do and do not need. I’d be very interested to hear what a marketing major thinks of subliminal messages. Are they really ethical? Is there some sort of standard of ethics in the marketing world? What laws exist to protect people, or are there any? I have no proof of this, but I haven’t had cable for the past 3 and a half years. Just from my own experience, I buy fewer things and fewer things. Is it a result of my personality or is it a drop in the amount of advertisements I see? I really have no idea.
Stephanie Bell
2:32 pm, 11.22.10
I never noticed this subliminal message before, But I think that it is interesting that they used it, if it was intentional. But I also think that we may be seeing this because we expect it to be there. Growing up, I was taught that parties that had alcohol often lead to people taking advantage of other people, which usually leads to sex. So maybe the only reason this image is there is because we want to see it there.
Brandon Schmermund
2:06 pm, 11.27.10
I believe this is the big issue on a lot of people’s minds in today’s culture. I recently wrote my major essay over free will and determinism and the effects of unconscious thinking. I agree with Rachel when she states that we do not have complete control of actions, but we want to think we have some sort of control over what we do. After saying that, I believe that in today’s culture we have to realize that subliminal messaging is everywhere and it is going to have some sort of effect on us. This is going to happen whether we want it to or not. For example, how many beer ads do we see when watching the super bowl? Better yet, how many times have we started to see cartoons that children watch drinking beer or smoking a cigarette? Rachel makes a good point about subliminal message, but I think the real question is how as Christian in a fallen world do we stop this type of advertisement from happening anymore.