HIDDEN E-MARKETING the Potential Usage of Subliminal Messages in Online Advertising

HIDDEN E-MARKETING The potential usage of subliminal messages in online advertising

Bachelor Thesis Marketing 2010

Student: S612239 Johan Pieter Volkerink

Supervisor: Drs. P.M.A. Tenbült

Abstract 2 Chapter 1: Introducing the problem 3 1.1 Problem background 3 1.2 Problem statement 4 1.3 Research questions 4 1.4 Managerial relevance 5 1.5 Academic relevance 5 1.6 Following chapters 6 Chapter 2: Online advertising 7 2.1 Narrowing down 7 2.2 What is online banner advertising? 7 2.3 Online versus offline advertising 8 2.3.1 Push versus pull 8 2.3.2 Consumer attitudes 9 2.3.2 Brand loyalty 9 2.4 The success of banner advertising 9 Chapter 3: Subliminal messages 11 3.1 The cradle of subliminal messages 11 3.2 Thresholds perspectives 12 3.3 Effectiveness of subliminal stimuli 12 3.3.1 Message complexity 12 3.3.2 Familiarity 13 3.3.3 Goal relevance 13 Chapter 4: Online banner advertising applications 15 4.1 Message complexity 15 4.2 Familiarity 16 4.3 Goal relevance 16 Conclusion, discussion & recommendations 17 5.1 Conclusion 17 5.2 Discussion & recommendations 18 References 19

Abstract

In this bachelor thesis, literature on the effectiveness of subliminal messages will be transposed to the online environment, trying to find a solution for the nowadays lack of effectiveness in online banner advertising. The goal of this thesis is to answer the question whether and how subliminal messages can influence the effectiveness of online banner advertising. To give a clear answer for this matter, both the hazards and possibilities of online banner advertising and subliminal messaging have been investigated. Subliminal stimuli seem to have great potential for this matter, since there is much similarity between the factors that make subliminal stimuli effective and the online environment (i.e. message complexity, familiarity and goal relevance). Concluding, factors influencing the effectiveness of both domains are being linked to find out whether and to what extend subliminal advertising can be implemented to influence the effectiveness of online banner advertisements. Thanks to the abilities of online marketers to target their advertisements more accurate than ever, subliminal stimuli can be considered as a valuable online marketing tool. The real benefits for online banner applications using subliminal stimuli do not lie in the message complexity (which is indifferent for online and offline application), but in the other two factors influencing subliminal effectiveness: familiarity and goal relevance.

Chapter 1: Introducing the problem

1.1 Problem background

When you surf on the web nowadays, you will be overwhelmed by the online advertisements. Several experts cast their doubt on the usefulness of these online banners (Brayles, 2002; Drèze & Hussherr, 2003), simply because they seem ineffective since the click-through rates1 are decreasing drastically (Sherman & Deighton, 2001). In fact, an interesting research by Drèze and Hussherr (2003) proves that potential online customers are not being lured by online banner advertisements. Moreover, their experiment concludes that their participants even deliberately avoid the online banners. Since advertisements online start to lose grip on the conscious mind, Drèze and Hussherr suggest that subliminal processing of advertisements might be an important factor influencing the effectiveness of online banner advertising.

Meanwhile, in the field of cognitive psychology and consumer behavior, it is fascinating to notice the ongoing flow of research on behavior caused by subliminal stimuli, all trying to catch a glimpse of the findings of Vicary’s infamous cinema experiment (Broyles, 2006; Theus, 1994). In 1957 James Vicary claimed to have found a sales increase on Coca Cola and popcorn by flashing messages on the screen so fast that the conscious mind is unable to notice it. Several years later however, he admitted that his findings were fictitious (Pratkanis, 1992). From Vicary’s hoax in the fifties on, the research conducted on subliminal advertising focuses on offline approaches. It seems plausible though, that the World Wide Web might be an environment with many opportunities for subliminal advertising, since active information processing by online customers is dwindling strength (Drèze & Hussherr, 2003). Several researchers – like Cuperfain and Clarke (1985) or Karremans et al. (2006) for example – came up with factors that influence the effectiveness of subliminal stimuli. Offline, that is.

In psychological literature, there never has been a focus on online applications of subliminal stimuli. On the other hand, most research on e-marketing does not take subliminal matters into account either. Why is that? Is such research irrelevant? Is there no difference between online and offline applications? Both issues seem implausible, since there is lots of difference between online and offline marketing practices (Schlosser et al., 1999), as well as

1 Click-through rates are the percentage of surfers that click on the online banner which actually sends them through to the advertiser’s website. 3 a big difference in consumer perceptions of advertisement online and offline (Danaher et al., 2003).

1.2 Problem statement

What if Drèze and Hussherr are right? What if subliminal stimuli can indeed be applied to make banner advertising more successful? If there really is a possibility to implement the factors influencing the effectiveness of subliminal messaging into the field of online advertising, this may lead to useful applications in the online advertising environment. Therefore, in this thesis the following problem is stated:

How can subliminal messages influence the effectiveness of online banner advertising?

1.3 Research questions

To be able to find out whether the literature on subliminal advertising is applicable to online advertising, it is necessary to transpose the offline literature to the online environment. This will be done by answering the following research questions:

Question 1: What is online banner advertising? Question 2: What makes online banner advertising successful? Question 3: What are subliminal messages? Question 4: Which factors influence the effectiveness of subliminal messages? Question 5: Which factors that influence the effectiveness of subliminal messages can be used to make online banner advertisements more effective?

After answering these questions, the factors influencing the effectiveness of subliminal advertisements will be transposed in the conclusion. Then, factors which influence the success of online advertising will be compared with these factors, to find out whether it is possible to apply subliminal advertising theories online. Finally, recommendations will be given to suggest whether subliminal advertisements might be of practical use in online advertising.

1.4 Managerial relevance

Linking the subliminal theories to the online environment could be very relevant for marketing management decision making. As will be shown in chapter 4, online marketing firms come up with different ideas than footloose researchers do. This could be because of self interest. Or it may be because of lack of new insights as this writing. Nevertheless, the statements on the success of online advertising seem to be at odds. Marketing managers should know whether subliminal advertising can be effective and if so, whether it can be applied on the internet. Only then they will be able to implement it within their marketing strategy. Unfortunately, theory on this applicability is absent. Nevertheless, firms shall be willing to invest in subliminal advertising research since according to Henderson (2010), the budgets for online advertisements are increasing, while the effectiveness of online banners decreases (Drèze & Hussherr, 2003).

1.5 Academic relevance

Also from an academic perspective, research on the possible online applications of subliminal advertising will be most relevant. The marketing environment changes rapidly from offline to online and subliminal advertising might be able to play a role in this part of the digital revolution. There has a lot of research been conducted on subliminal messages and its effectiveness (Broyles, 2006; Theus, 1994), as has there been written a lot on the (lack of) success of online banner advertising. (Bayles, 2002; Danaher, 2003; Sherman, 2001) Nonetheless, the field of online advertising is relatively small (Manchanda et al., 2006) The link between these two fields however has not been mentioned in the literature that much. This can be because there is no consistent connection expected between them, which would make a study as this one irrelevant. However, this is not the case, since merely using the knowledge that online advertising lacks effectiveness and that subliminal effectiveness is moldable by marketers, makes the implementation of subliminal literature online look plausible. This thesis is relevant, because both fields are now combined, which can be an eye- opener for research in both domains. If only the theories will be studied and transposed to the online environment, a clear perspective will be present of the usefulness of subliminal advertisement for online practices. This will bring the work of researchers from the field of online marketing, consumer behavior and cognitive psychology closer together. An overview on subliminal advertising effectiveness, plus a transformation to online banner advertising will ensure both the academic and managerial relevance.

1.6 Following chapters

In the following chapter, more insights will be given on what online advertising is along with a selective comparison with offline advertising. Besides that, there will be a demonstration of the factors that have made online banner advertising successful in the past. In chapter 3 we will move on to the second pillar of this writing. The ins and outs of subliminal messages will be introduced and a clear border between subliminal and non- subliminal will be drawn. After that, chapter 4 will grant an overview of different theories executed on subliminal effectiveness, ending with a clear point of view with respect to the factors that possibly make subliminal messages effective. This is a crucial part of this study, since the factors influencing the effectiveness will be the ones that shall be transposed in the conclusion of this thesis. Finally, the conclusion will follow in which the previous chapters will be linked. At that point it will be possible to give a decisive answer to the main research question to what extend theories on the effectiveness of subliminal messages can be applied in online advertising.

Chapter 2: Online advertising

This chapter will put emphasis on the next part of interest to answer the problem statement: online advertising. In this chapter, we will first narrow down to online banner advertising (2.1). Then we are going to take a look at what is meant with online advertising (2.2). Subsequently, in paragraph 2.3 online and offline advertising will be compared. If this is all pointed out, we will take a look at the successfulness of online banner advertising in the past and nowadays (2.4). At the end of the chapter, the questions what online banner advertising is and how it can be successful will be answered. As a result, one will have a better understanding of the possibilities in the online environment for marketers.

2.1 Narrowing down

Online advertising is a large field to work with for this writing. There are several commonly used tactics like email advertising, affiliate advertising or online viral marketing, in practice often blended together into a larger online marketing strategy. Since this is a too broad workspace, things will be narrowed down to a smaller ground to work with: online banner advertising. There are several reasons to do so. First of all, it is one of the most traditional online advertising tools that have been researched extensively (Schlosser, Shavitt & Kanfer, 1999). This will provide a solid academic foundation to base this thesis on. Second, online banner ads are quite similar to certain offline advertising tools. Think of advertisements in the newspaper compared to online banners advertisements for example; they are essentially comparable. This makes the online and offline advertising well comparable. Third and most importantly, online banner advertisements are so interesting to take a look at, because of their lack of effectiveness (Brayles, 2002; Drèze & Hussherr, 2003). Their measurements are an essential point of interest for this problem, as will be described later on in this chapter.

2.2 What is online banner advertising?

An online banner advertisement is one of the most commonly used online advertising methods. We can state this in a broad or narrow perspective. From a restricted point of view, online banners are only the simple, images in the web browser on the side of your computer

7 screen. However, the literature fundamentals (Brayles, 2002; Drèze & Hussherr, 2003) of this thesis are a bit broader. We will use a broader perspective of banner advertising, not only focusing on simple images, but also on richer multimedia versions of banner advertisements evolving in videos instead of single images, the so called rich media advertisements. This development in the online working field also blends the idea of a banner advertisement (on the side of the screen) and pop-up advertisements (full-screen). This altogether makes online advertisements more lively and notable.

2.3 Online versus offline advertising

But why would a company prefer online advertising? To answer this question, we have to take a look at the advantages and disadvantages of the online advertising environment compared to the offline advertising environment. There is a tremendous spectrum of differences that can be mentioned, but for this work, focus lies on those differences that can be of importance for the main issue whether subliminal stimuli can be used to make online banner advertising more effective.

In his paper “Strategy and the Internet” (2001), Michael Porter – the influential initiator of the five forces model – states that “the winners will be those that view the Internet as a complement to, not a cannibal of, traditional ways of competing.” This concept holds for the use of subliminal messages too. Indeed, the intention of this thesis is not to state that subliminal messages should exclusively be used online, but to find out whether there is a possibility to blend the subliminal theories within the online environment. But this is only useful when there is a difference between online and offline advertising. So what are the differences between advertising on the internet and in the bricks and mortar business? In the upcoming three paragraphs (2.3.1 – 2.3.3) the differences between online and offline advertising that are most important for this writing will be described.

2.3.1 Push versus pull A vital difference is the way that advertisers can reach the customer. Using offline channels (i.e. print or television broadcasting), advertisements are brought to the customer via a push principle. A customer either waits until the commercial break is over or he pauses watching, but he is unable to influence what advertisements are sent to him. Online however, this is a whole different tale. One can in fact “choose” which advertisement he sees, since there are

8 multiple ways to get to the same information (Schlosser, Shavitt & Kanfer, 1999). The websites the consumer uses has its own advertisements. In fact, by doing so the consumer pulls the advertisement that is directed to him or her. Therefore, online banner advertising can be seen of as being mostly pull-based, whereas offline advertising is push-based.

2.3.2 Consumer attitudes Another great difference between online and offline advertising can be found in the attitude of consumers towards it (Porter, 2001). In the late 1950s and 1960s, consumer’s attitudes towards general (i.e. offline) advertising are quite positive because they are informative or because they believe that it is essential (Bauer & Greyser, 1968).Starting from the 1970s however, consumer attitudes towards offline advertising are increasingly negative, mostly because they found it misleading (Zanot, 1981).

2.3.2 Brand loyalty Customers are less loyal to their favorite brand when they are shopping online, when it comes to smaller brands. Brands are gaining brand loyalty online, when their market shares are growing (Danaher et al., 2003). As long as the targeted customer is familiar with the brand online, they will stick to it. This effect occur offline too, but these differences are being measured much larger in an online environment. Creating a large market share therefore can be seen as an essential part of customer loyalty programs online. Hence, online brand loyalty seems to be created to a significant larger extend by brand familiarity than it does offline.

2.4 The success of banner advertising

Researchers in the field of online advertising are discussing in which way the success of online advertising should be measured. Traditionally, click-through-rates are used to measure the effectiveness en thus the success of banner advertisements. However, nowadays most researchers agree that this is not the right approach, since banner advertising should be used essentially for brand awareness, and not directly lead to action by the customers. Hence, firms should not try to lure customers to click on their banners, but be used as a way to establish your brand or remind customers of a products’ presence. Doing so, banner advertisements affect customers’ buying probability. (Manchanda et al.;2006).

However, as stated in the first chapter, an interesting research by Drèze and Hussherr (2003) proves that potential consumers on the web are not being lured by online banner advertisements and even deliberately avoiding them. This concept is more commonly known as banner blindness. According to their research online banners have a 50% probability being seen, a relatively low percentage compared to 97% in television advertisements (Siddarth, 2002) and 93% in Yellow Pages (Lohse, 1997). Furthermore, Drèze and Hussherr analyzed which factors influence the effectiveness of online banner advertisements. They have taken a look at the repetition, size, shape, content and location. Perpetually showing a banner advertisement, which will lead to familiarity, leads eventually to a greater recall, brand recognition and brand awareness, which is what banner advertisements should be used for. All the other factors researched (size, shape, content and location) are relatively irrelevant. Many online marketing agencies claim however that animated banners are the best solution to banner blindness. Also academic research (Yoo & Kim, 2005), in contrary of Drèze and Hussherr does conclude that there is a positive relation between animation level and attention. However, they are sceptic about the idea that more animation leads to greater attention rates. That is, equilibrium should be found to make this type of banner advertising more useful than common banner advertisements, without getting on ones nerves.

Chapter 3: Subliminal messages

In this chapter, we will dive into the theories on subliminal messages, to find out what subliminal messages actually are. A lot has been written about this phenomenon, which gives it a solid based to work with, but the fact that many have discussed it has its downsides too. Surely, when a lot has been written, there are many points of view. But consequently, everyone has formed his own definition. For that reason, the fundamental issue for this chapter is that it is not possible to state that there is one clear definition of subliminal messages. Therefore, an overview of different perspectives through the last few decades will be given. Theories from both cognitive psychology and consumer behavior researchers will be taken into account. You will see that the border between sub- and supraliminal (i.e. below and above threshold) is a critical point of discussion.

We will start at Vicary’s fifties hoax, which can be considered as the origin of research on subliminal messages. The outline will bring us to several studies conducted in the past few years. Eventually, this overview will lead to a key definition to work with in this writing.

3.1 The cradle of subliminal messages

As mentioned in the first chapter, James Vicary initiated the idea that one can influence consumer behaviour by using subliminal messaging. Although the visitors of the cinema in New Jersey were not consciously aware that they were being “commanded” by his hidden advertisements to drink Coke and eat popcorn, their subconscious mind did. Well, those were Vicary’s conclusions at that moment. Nevertheless, Vicary admitted afterwards that his findings were made up to boost his marketing research firm popularity. He never published his research findings more explicitly. From that moment on, Research on the subliminal perception decreased drastically those days, because many lost their belief in the idea that it does exist (Ericksen, 1960; Jack, 2000; Pratkanis, 1992). The field of research on subliminal messages got split up between believers and non-believers of the phenomenon and until these days, we can speak of heydays for disunity. Central in the continuously nourished discussion is the question whether something like subliminal perception actually exists. Therefore we should take a look at those studies that draw a line between subliminal (i.e. under threshold) and so called supraliminal (i.e. above threshold) perception.

3.2 Thresholds perspectives

The goers started to argue in the eighties about how subliminal perception should be defined. The discussion was about the thresholds (Dijksterhuis, Aarts & Smith, 2005), as show graphically in figure 1. We can speak of two thresholds when talking about way of perception (Cheesman & Merikle, 1984): an objective and a subjective threshold. When one does not pass the objective threshold, we do not speak of perception at all. That is, stimuli simply do not enter the brain. Stimuli that do pass the objective threshold, but not the subjective one, are mentioned as subliminal or unconscious stimuli. Only the very small amount of stimuli that actually pass both thresholds can be seen as supraliminal of conscious stimuli. In other words, only those few stimuli that pass the subjective threshold are stimuli that people actually are aware of. Subliminal stimuli can therefore be seen as those that people are not aware of, but they do influence them. Thus, subliminal perception is perception without awareness.

3.3 Effectiveness of subliminal stimuli

Findings on the effectiveness of subliminal messages can be of incredible political and managerial interest, but a useful way to apply subliminal stimuli in advertising or politics has not been found by many. But the few researches who did find factors influencing the effectiveness hit the needle on the head. Their studies show us that it seems plausible that subliminal messages are exploitable to influence consumer behavior, as long as the factors that are used in their experiments will be taken into account. Their studies are presented below (3.1). This outline will show that effectiveness of subliminal messages will be influenced by the factors they mentioned. Altogether, these factors will form the foundation of the transposition of subliminal messages to the online environment. At the end of this chapter will be explained whether and why the mentioned factors are applicable in online advertising.

3.3.1 Message complexity In 1985, Greenwald and Liu build an experiment, in which they gave their participants several subliminal messages. The participants had to answer whether the message they were primed with was positive (e.g. hero, friend) or negative (e.g. enemy, villain). Greenwald and Liu mixed positive verbs with positive nouns (i.e. hero wins), which is a positive loaded sentence. So both (the words and the sentence) are positively charged. A more interesting 12 element of this research is the fact that they used two negative loaded words (i.e. enemy fails). Both words have a negative meaning, but the whole subliminal message is in fact positive. Moreover, these negative words are processed more often subliminally (Lavie et al., 2009). From these experiments we are able to conclude that the participants were unable to mention the load of the whole sentence, but they were able to mention the word valence. The negative words were perceived more clearly than the positive ones. Other research (Kunst-Wilson & Zajonc, 1980) shows that subliminal stimuli are better processed when they are graphical instead of verbal. Experiments in this direction (Hansen, 1981) reveal that this is a consequence of the fact that the right brain is highly active for graphical stimuli, which is important for low involvement perception. Taking all this into account, it is plausible to assume that the message complexity is an important part in the effectiveness of subliminal messaging.

3.3.2 Familiarity Besides the message complexity argument as presented by Greenwald and Liu, brand familiarity has a substantial impact on the effectiveness of subliminal stimuli (Cuperfain & Clarke, 1985). Before the research conducted by Cuperfain and Clarke (1985), there was a common skeptic attitude towards the advertising applications of subliminal stimuli in the scientific society. According to them, a word or logo of a product that is familiar to the respondent is more likely to process the subliminal message. This seems commonsensical; one would be more likely to fill in the name of Coca Cola in its logo than the name of a plumber of which one saw the logo once or twice.

3.3.3 Goal relevance Several studies on the effectiveness of subliminal stimuli revealed the importance of the motivation to achieve a certain goal. Strahan, Spencer and Zanna (2002) denoted this as goal relevance. The general idea is that they ensure that the test group is willing to achieve a specific goal. In their experiment, Strahan, Spencer and Zanna showed that presenting the respondent, who is thirsty, with a thirst related prime is more likely to choose for a thirst related beverage (in this example: Super-Quencher). Another clear example in the study of Strahan, Spencer and Zanna is the experiment with the Tweed Monkeys and Chrystal Hammer songs. Tweed Monkeys was described as energetic, upbeat, and lively, whereas Chrystal Hammer was described as vibrant, strong, and musically

13 creative. They used two groups of respondents, one expecting interaction with someone else afterwards, the other groups did not. The respondents were primed with a sad face or a neutral prime. There was a remarkable difference in results between the group that expected to meet another person (their goal) and the control group that did not. Where there was no clear preference for the Tweed Monkeys over the Crystal Hammer songs for the neutral primed group, 76% of the group primed with the sad face preferred the Tweed Monkeys. These results are clearly stating that subliminal stimuli can be effective, as long as there is an inner motivation to achieve a specific goal. But there are more researchers coming up with certain conclusions (Karremans et al., 2006). Karremans, Stroebe and Claus also believe that the relevance of goal achieving is an important factor to influence the effectiveness of behavioral change due to subliminal stimuli. However, they brought the ideas of Strahan, Spencer and Zanna to the next level by trying to figure out if practices as mentioned above can also affect brand choice. And indeed “Participants in the Lipton Ice prime condition were more likely to choose Lipton Ice (69%) than participants in the control prime condition (25%).” Their second study showed similar results; those who were primed with Lipton Ice intended to drink Ice Tea, although this effect was less strong. Altogether, goal relevance should be taken into account as an important factor that influences a respondents’ choice.

Chapter 4: Online banner advertising applications

The previous chapter focused on what subliminal messages are and how to make them effective. With that, an essential part of this research has been figured out. We now know that message complexity, product familiarity and goal relevance are of great importance to possibly make subliminal messages effective. To come to a relevant conclusion in this writing, it is important to stand still with one last important issue. To what extend are the factors that have proven to work experimentally applicable in online advertising practice?

Many might believe that banner advertisements work subliminal already. The big problem in this however is a wrong perspective of what actually is subliminal. The common perspective is (thanks to a lot of rumours on TV and the internet (i.e. the fear mongers among us)) that everything that we don’t see is subliminal. This is a very broad perspective on the term subliminal. What is subliminal and what is not, will be described more clearly in the next chapter. For now, an example will illustrate the difference. The artwork of packages of Camel Cigarettes is recognizable because of their logo, a camel. So far, so good. However, ghost tales started to emerge because people started mentioning to see a naked man, other state that it is Belgium’s Manneke Pis. Whether the image of a naked man really exists is irrelevant. Most of such stories are comparable to kids searching a teddy bear in the clouds, and sequentially yelling at their parents that they really saw one. Nonetheless, this is not what is being meant by subliminal stimuli in the context of this text, since the conscious mind is able to notice the naked man, as well as the teddy bear in the clouds. These people are trying to spread fear and blame the major corporations and governments of taking part in conspiracies or being moneygrubbers and that they are therefore trying to manipulate society.

4.1 Message complexity As presented in the previous chapter, a message with low complexity is more likely to be processed subconsciously than more complex messages. Off course, every individual has a subjective threshold of what is complex and what is not, but the studies presented in chapter 3 provide practical perspectives to work with. That is, the usage of single worded messages or simple graphical messages can be used to increase the effectiveness of subliminal stimuli. Do note that there are no foundations to assume that there is a difference between online and

15 offline applications for this matter. In online and offline practice, solely internal factors (i.e. internal or external marketers) decide how complex a subliminal message will be. Nevertheless, provided theories should be taken into account in this managerial decision making process. Message complexity therefore can be seen as an important factor to make subliminal stimuli effective, which should be taken into account in the online environment too.

4.2 Familiarity Familiarity can in this context particularly be seen as brand or product familiarity. In other words, subliminal banner effectiveness can be increased when the targeted consumer knows the brand or product. The information that can be captured from social networks is extremely useful for this matter. Loads of potential customers are presenting the whole world what their favorite brands are and what their leisure activities are. In this way, e-marketers have an incredible amount of information about their customers up for grabs. This information is useful for the application of subliminal stimuli in the online environment, since marketers can target these customers very well.

4.3 Goal relevance The extent to which the consumer finds a certain goal relevant is another ideal criterion for online marketers. Again, online marketers are able to make very accurate estimations of what their potential customers want and need. For example, when one is visiting amazon.com, they are theoretically able to check ones social network pages and search engine input to target their banner advertisements. Since these banner advertisements are losing awareness, the subconscious processing might be a helping hand. Apart from that, it seems assumable that if one searches for a certain product on a search engine or a more specific website, there is a need to get more information or to buy this type of product, simply because otherwise, the customer does not search for the product. A brand might then well be primed to the customer, which can be an extra stimulus to buy a product online.

Conclusion, discussion & recommendations

5.1 Conclusion The goal of this thesis is to answer the question whether and how subliminal messages can influence the effectiveness of online banner advertising. To give a clear answer for this matter, both the hazards and possibilities of online banner advertising and subliminal messaging have been investigated. Concluding, factors influencing the effectiveness of both domains are being linked to find out whether and to what extend subliminal advertising can be implemented to influence the effectiveness of online banner advertisements.

Due to the decreasing awareness of online banners, e-marketers are extensively searching for opportunities to replace the conventional banners. Where many firms try to create eye- catching banners with larger sized banners and increasing movement or interactivity, alternatives may be found in the subconscious mind.

The big advantage for these online banners, compared to conventional offline advertising strategies, lies in the accuracy of the targeting. Systems like Google AdWords and social networks like Facebook and Twitter enable marketers to get exceedingly detailed information about customer needs, attitudes and preferences. This nowadays online advertising environment fits perfectly to the factors that enable subliminal stimuli. Thanks to the abilities of online marketers to target their advertisements more accurate than ever, subliminal stimuli can be considered as a valuable online marketing tool. The real benefits for online banner applications using subliminal stimuli do not lie in the message complexity (which is indifferent for online and offline application), but in the other two factors influencing subliminal effectiveness: familiarity and goal relevance.

5.2 Discussion & recommendations Nowadays, people tend to have an aversion against online banners, so one can be skeptical about the prospect of online banner advertisements en with that, the usage of subliminal techniques for them. However, a short subliminal message might be perceived less annoying than a continuous yelling banner advertisement or an obligatory commercial before a customer can watch a video online. A few milliseconds can be enough to trigger the subliminal mind, without bothering anyone. Although subliminal stimuli could theoretically be very useful for online banner advertising practices, there are certain pitfalls to be cautious of. There are two ethical boundaries to be considered; privacy of the consumer data and the public fear to lose control. Please note that the influence of cultural differences might be needed to take into account, since needs and feelings of privacy and control can be very dissimilar across cultures. These cultural differences are not taken into account for this text. People might feel unpleasant by the idea that marketers are trying to influence their behavior subliminally on purpose. Since the hype around Vicary in the fifties, it seems that a continuous paranoia has been created. Whether a company dares to take this educated guess is up to them. Brand image and loyalty can be influenced tremendously by certain negative publicity. Besides that, it is debatable whether subliminal applications are possible. Experiments should therefore demonstrate if the goal relevance is high enough for online customers or that one really should be desperate to find a certain product.

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