Ellen Lupton and Abbot Miller
- 1985- established a studio called design writing research
- 1996- book published
- graphic design constructed the world we live in
- but with a deconstructive design mindset.
- reveal the political structures hidden by design.
- subliminal advertisement (ways in which this can be reframed)
Subliminal Seduction (Lupton)
- influence without recognition directly
- cinema houses would do this in trailers by flashing images of things that could be bought at the concession stand.
- popularity grew in 1960's
- why she was attracted to subliminal advertising
- ideology and social control, impose a way of thinking upon the audience. Don't notice the small things, but they have an affect say on purchasing patterns.
- Hermeneutics (interpretations) everything can be subject to interpretation, nothing is straightforward. Each person has different way to make sense of things.
- appears she would campion this idea, and be receptive to this idea but no.
- she is critical of the writings that have been done on this
- doest think of it as a real phenomenon, it doesn't work and is a constructive myth.
- it does locate an important truth maybe
Wilson Bryon Key
- book subliminal seduction
- advertising encodes sexual overtones in to ambitious images
- leads through series of posters/ adverts
- how they instil a sexual agenda
- Lupton- Connection through reading ambitious images and wordplay of advertising (puns etc)
- postmodernists like the idea of double coding.
- breaks down the message, by suggesting a way to read and travel through the image.
- Lupton says Key makes us look for something letter based within the image. We are to look for possible diagonals. A-tunes us to look for diagonal shapes within letters like X and Z.
- e.g. the frosty ice cube image could appear to have a letter X in.
- the ice cubes read SEX. Its ambiguous but a deliberate strategy.
- once seen in this way, the frame is all you see.
- can we also say this may contain lips or faces
- something else we subconsciously notice without realising.
Room 237
- documentary
- interview fans of his work and what they read in to about this works.
- the films are fascinated as filled with subliminal affects.
- shining- film
- hundreds of subliminal messages
- disturbing stories of sexuality are hinted (haunted phantom of demons who are attracted to humans)
- fans discussing are so detailed and in depth analysis of the film on a subliminal message.
- perfect alignment leads to sexual innuendos and sexual images
- extreme lengths to see these readings, but once seen, its very hard not to see it.
- did Cubric mean them all?
Lipton suggests that Key's sensationalised writing 'creates a subliminal image and the idea become pare of 1970's folk culture.
Has real affect in the world, as they provide the basis for a cultural folk law of subliminal advertising. People fall in to line with Key's ideas because of this.
absolute subliminal, advertisers stat playing on this and start using it. E.g. "Absolute vodka' in roster typeface within the ice cubes again.
- more of a joke than to real effect
- its self conscious
- and design to 'take the mick' maybe
- knowing ironic?
Some designers deny they use subliminal messaging. e.g. Camel smooth cigarettes.
Lupton casts doubt upon the subliminal advertising and its effectiveness
Key thinks Cinematic blidverts increase concession sales- repeating this under experimental conditions (stages experiment) nothing is found. There is no increase. Lupton wants to prove that this is not the case. Its all in the brain, not on the page to a certain extent.
Key tells you what to think and what to look for and find within the image. Once you have been told, you can't not see what he is suggesting is there. He frames our perception for us. Its a constructed perception. Without this phenomenon we wouldn't have more advertising campaigns like this.
- there are ideological/ subliminal effects of advertising
- adverts entrench status quo and ways of being.
- tease out of the image control structures.
- modes of politics are included within the imagery.
- can we deconstruct these.
- representations of cultural normality are transmitted in a quasi-transmitted fashion
- myth of subliminal messages
- when really there is a show of power interests and cultures encoded into the imagery. Because this is societal norms.
Has the way we think about subliminal shifted over time?
Stuart Ewan
Analysis in to the images once masked. Do they have hidden more sexual images? Can you see this automatically, or do you need to be told what to loom for within in order to see the i
Rachel Milner Dissertation example
- intro, methodology, outline
- Edmund Burke, Kant, Sublime, Noumenal, Phenomenal
Law attempted to be passed to make subliminal imagery illegal. 1958
Are emotions subliminally tackled. through;
- music
- colour manipulation
- framing
e.g. John Lewis advert at Christmas
Dr Robert Heath
The psychology of Emotional Influence in Advertising
- the best adverts are those which aren't meant for the viewer to be intently watched
- they should be played in the background for full effect
- e.g. O2. 1990's. Lots of money on the campaign, no one could recall the main message behind the adverts. This is not forceful marketing a product, therefore people were unaware who they were associated with or what they were adverting.
- Most effective aren't those we love or hate. They should be able to effortless slip things under our knowledge and make us do things we are unaware of.
- e.g. compare the Meerkat. Excelled success from fictional website and toys for example
- mintel report that this has put them with a high market share.
- e.g. Go compare
- Gio Compario. Most irritating campaign. But structurally the same as compare the market. We hate this advert but this is the most prominent one. Indirect modes of effective advertising.
