Currently, the state of practice is such that people are opposed to the feeling of being manipulated without being aware of it and this has resulted in subliminal advertising being legally banned in countries like the United Kingdom and Australia. However, the notion of subliminal messaging is still used to secretly influence human decision making even when most evidence shows it does not have an influence. (Karrensmans, Stroebe, & Claus, 2006) argue that the goal relevance of the subliminal advertisement might be a necessary condition for subliminal advertising to work. This is to say that people may only be interested in subliminal advertisement when the product or service being advertised is linked to a need they may have. It can therefore be assumed that, even though audience may be exposed to subliminal advertising most of the time, they can only perceive and make meaning of such messages which may affect their decisions only if …show more content…
In the study they conducted, the finding was that people’s preferences determine whether they take purchasing decisions. What people are usually fond of doing seem to create a connection between them and products or services that echo their habits. Relating this finding to the current study, it can be said that consumers are able to identify subliminal advertising only if what is being advertised is in one or the other connected to a preference or habit the consumer has. This is to say that when a consumer has a high preference for iPhones, he or she is likely to notice even the slightest form of subliminal advertising in any media content for that product. Even though the consumer may not make a constant effort or be on the lookout for such communication, he is able to pinpoint when a product or service he is likely to choose or purchase any day is being subliminally