(Sub)Liminal Advertising.

Every ad is trying to sell us something; that's what ads do.  But some ads do this in a much more subtle way.

I do believe that there are ads that try to 'manipulate' us and make us associate certain feelings or things with different products.  I also believe that there are some people who look too far into things and start to see messages that no one intended to exist.

The kind of liminal advertising that I believe is created by the advertisers and the designers are small design things or when an ad is seen.  For example the FedEx logo

it's a logo that people see very frequently and has a small design element that most people never notice until someone points it out to them.  In between the E and x an arrow is created in the whitespace.  This is liminal advertising.  It imbeds an idea in the viewers mind that with FedEx your package will go wherever it needs to go (as the arrow implies movement of some sort).  

When or where an ad is viewed can also imply liminal advertising.  If someone is looking through an expensive magazine and they see an ad for a certain brand of shampoo they're going to immediately relate this product to also being expensive and high class (even if it's the same as any other shampoo).  It's also seen in television.  Companies will buy ad space during certain programs depending on the content.  If  a show is happy then companies who want people to associate happiness and feeling good to their product will buy ad space during that program.

Humour & Advertising)

Humour is a very powerful tool.  It can easily make a person remember your product but it's not always for the best reason.  

I find that recently humour has become commonplace in today's marketing; it's in print ads, commercials, online...  But when using humour in ads you need to be very careful that you're not offending anyone (which let's be honest is almost impossible to not do now-a-days).  I also find that humorous ads tend to get old quick.  Take the Old Spice commercials for instance. The original one found here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=owGykVbfgUE, was actually pretty funny when it first came out.  It was something that had never been done before and it made people question what they were watching and what was going on in the commercial.  Now three years later Old Spice is still trying to use that same brand of humour (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PF_X3l3TnJs) and honestly it's getting boring; the first time you see it it's kind of interesting to see what's going on but in the end I'd rather change the channel then sit through that commercial again.  This is why one example why I say humour can be very effective, but it doesn't last for very long before people get sick of it.  

There's always also the risk that people may not take your product seriously if you use humour in your advertising; you have to be careful when coming up with ideas that you're not giving people a reason to think less of your product.

I feel like I really agree on Schiller's views on how to use humour in advertising: 

"Bottom line: Use humor if—and only if:
 You use it to reinforce and support your basic promise.
 You use it to be friendly, not funny.
 You use it to attract, not to distract.
 You NEVER lose sight of what you're really doing: selling.So don't clown around. But smile when you sell that!"

http://www.mortyschiller.com/html/does_humor_sell_.html

Advertising & Food

Advertising and food seem to go hand in hand; unfortunately it's mostly the fast food or junk/snack food industry that take full advantage of advertisements. When I was a child every weekend I'd get up early and watch my cartoons which were riddled with commercials, many of those being for unhealthy foods.  To me, these commercials were bright and fun and made whatever it was they were advertising to be something I wanted.  Things haven't changed.  Children still watch cartoons and the ads are still designed to appeal to the younger generation.  

With obesity levels rising it's not surprising that advertising is taking a good part of the blame; it is how most people first come into contact with the unhealthy food choices.  The commercials or ads make the food seem delicious and fun and this makes people want to go and eat it.  It's unfortunate that we live in a world now that's run by media; whatever people see or hear or watch from any media source (tv, social medias, magazines) is what people tend to believe or agree with; the healthy food industries have seem to have very little presence in these places.  Admittedly there is a rise in the presence of healthy eating/healthy living choices in some forms of media (I have quite a few Facebook friends who post healthy food ideas/exercise tips) it still doesn't compare to the hold that fast food industries have on people.

I feel like the advertising does carry some of the blame for the weight issues that are rising but on the other hand that's the agencies job.  They are supposed to make their client's food, or whatever it happens to be, be something that the viewer wants or even needs; and in the fast food industry this is clearly being done well.  However, I do also feel that the consumer themselves are also at blame.  In the accessible world we live in today it's easy to do research and find out what is or isn't good for you and how you should be taking care of your body.  The knowledge is out there, people just need to take initiative to find this information and then actually use it.