Jan 20 2009
AT&T Commercial
I saw this AT&T commercial on TV again the other day. It made me think about subliminal advertising. Originally, subliminal advertising was at least thought to be extremely fast flashes of images, like a Coke bottle, during a (Coke) commercial. But that is not what it is today, at least. Subliminal advertising, in the traditional sense, is illegal. But advertisers have found another way to quietly get their message across.
This AT&T commercial seems basic. It shows a little girl bringing her daddy’s briefcase to him as he leaves for a business trip. Throughout his trip, he takes pictures with his AT&T phone and sends them to his daughter. The last picture is of their house, letting the daughter know that he is home.
Look a little deeper in the commercial, and something else will be noticed. The AT&T logo of the 5 bars, each bar on the right a little taller than the one on the left, can be seen 9 unique times and over 11 times total throughout the 30 second commercial. See if you can spot all, or even more!
By having the logo so many times, and so hidden, the hope is that the viewer will subconsciously see it and remember it. The belief is that the subconscious mind is more powerful than the conscious mind in remembering and acting on memories.
Lesson of The Day: Subliminal advertising is not dead, just different than the general public knows. The theory that placing lots of small symbols and/or logos in advertisements and commercials may or may not be true, but it does happen and it is used in commercials today.
If you liked this post, check out my new AT&T post: IDK, my BFF Rose http://commercialsnmore.today.com/2009/04/25/att-bff-commercial/