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COPYRIGHT 2008 M.E. Sharpe, Inc.
In Perloff's day, the idea of "hidden persuaders" was indeed a
matter of bluff and, to some extent, hysteria. But no longer. If researchers had a responsibility in 1964 to serve the consumer, how much more of a responsibility is there today, when methods to thwart or bypass the consumer's defenses against influence are becoming ever more powerful, and yet he remains as ignorant of these influences and as overconfident of his control as in the past? (Bargh 2002, p. 283)
The year 2007 marked the fiftieth anniversary of The Hidden Persuaders, when Vance Packard alerted the public to the psychoanalytical techniques used by the advertising industry. The book, which remained on top of the U.S. bestseller list for a year, was translated into 12 languages, and sold three million copies by 1975 (Horowitz 1994). Its premise was that advertising agencies were using depth interviews to identify hidden consumer motivations, which were then used to entice consumers to buy goods.
Despite its popularity among middle-class audiences (Mayer 1958), the book received widespread academic and advertising industry criticism, in part for its sensationalist, unsubstantiated writing (Horowitz 1994). Furthermore, critics and reporters often wrongly assumed that Packard was writing mainly about subliminal advertising (e.g., Bargh 2002; Barnes 1996). Packard never mentioned the word subliminal, however, and devoted very little space to discussions of "subthreshold" effects. Instead, his views largely aligned with the notion that individuals do not always have access to their conscious thoughts and can be persuaded by supraliminal messages without their knowledge. Although such sentiments are not derived from a psychoanalytic approach, they have recently been recognized within psychology (e.g., Bargh and Ferguson 2000; Greenwald and Banaji 1995), neuroscience (e.g., McClure et al. 2004), and advertising and consumer research (e.g., Chartrand 2005; Shapiro 1999). In fact, since the 1980s, social cognition research has recognized the "substantial role played by nonconscious processes (and the minimal role played by deliberate, effortful processes) in psychological and behavioral phenomena" (Bargh 2002, p. 281).
Such nonconscious influences are perhaps exacerbated by new forms of persuasion today, which are designed to thwart consumers' ability to zip or zap past branded messages and circumvent their conscious defenses (Kaikati and Kaikati 2004). These tactics, such as guerrilla marketing (also called buzz, undercover, stealth, or word-of-mouth marketing), product or brand placements, and video news releases, occur when consumers are exposed to masked commercial messages that are not legally defined as commercial messages (Balasubramanian 1994). Because the persuasion source is not identified and the brand is embedded within content or conversation, consumers may not realize that they are being persuaded by these supraliminal persuasion attempts.
Therefore, in light of theoretical advances related to conscious and nonconscious processing and the rise of masked commercial messages over the past 50 years, it seems appropriate to revisit Packard's 1957 assertions about hidden persuaders. Furthermore, as we recognize the fiftieth anniversary of the book that is still considered one of the most influential books for advertising scholarship (Beard 2002) and was cited as one of the most important events in American advertising (1704 to 1999; Advertising Age), this paper considers the impact of The Hidden Persuaders on advertising and society.
PACKARD AND THE HIDDEN PERSUADERS
Then: The Man and the Book
Vance Packard (May 22, 1914--December 12, 1996) was born in rural Pennsylvania. He identified himself as a "farm boy" throughout his life, although he moved to State College when he was 10 and became a successful writer living in the affluent suburbs (Horowitz 1994). His identity to others--as a reporter, cultural critic, or a popular sociologist--drew from his education and professional life. Packard earned his B.A. at Pennsylvania State University in 1936 and his master's degree in journalism at Columbia University in 1937. He was influenced by his Penn State mentor Willard Waller, a professor of the Chicago school of sociology, which used an interdisciplinary approach and drew inspiration from urban journalism and Progressive reform. Waller and Packard wrote articles together debunking accepted views of undergraduate life. Both men considered themselves to be keen observers and critics of everyday life, but as unconventional moralists rather than radical reformers.
In his professional life, Packard was a reporter for The Associated Press and for American and Collier's magazines, working in the mass media from 1937 to 1956 (Horowitz 1994). When Packard lost his job at the American Magazine in 1956--partially due to the downturn of magazine advertising at the advent of television--he decided to write freelance to escape editors' constraints. The Hidden Persuaders was published less than a year later.
Although not his first or last book, The Hidden Persuaders was the most successful. The material for the book on the psychological techniques of advertising was actually commissioned by Reader's Digest in 1954. It is interesting to note that after the article was written, Reader's Digest began accepting ads--and the article never actually ran (Horowitz 1994). Packard noted the connection between his critique on the advertising industry and the financial contribution of advertisements to the magazine. In 1955, Packard shared the rejected article with a friend who was editor at the David McKay Company. The friend encouraged him to expand the article into a book. After collecting the research, Packard wrote The Hidden Persuaders within two months. Because of his background, Packard had access to the media industry, knew how to interview people, and was able to write prose for the general public very quickly. The book achieved instant success.
The general public appeared ambivalent about advertising and consumer culture during that time period (i.e., the 1950s and 1960s; Zanot 1981). The post--World War II era reflected a time of affluence and an abundance of goods. Because of this gluttony of goods, the entire concept of marketing was undergoing a "reappraisal" (Stern 2004) and a "paradigm shift" (Wilkie and Moore 2003) to stimulate consumer demand. Packard observed this trend when "corporate leaders had shifted 'from being maker-minded to market-minded'" (Horowitz 1994, p. 106) and wrote about it. He was not the only one. The Hidden Persuaders has been lumped with other popular culture works (e.g., fiction: The Hucksters, The Lonely Crowd, The Organization Man) and academic critiques (e.g., The Affluent Society) of advertising and consumer culture written during this era. The moral tone and ambivalence toward consumer culture reflected in these books resonated with the public. This was the first sustained assault on advertising since the 1930s. In particular, people were fascinated and fearful of the power of advertising as they found themselves targets of new advertising techniques in a wider variety of media. Television rapidly introduced moving-picture emotional advertising and used commercial forms developed in radio, such as the sponsorship of entire programs. Whereas only 9% of American households owned a television in 1950, almost 80% of households owned a television by the time The Hidden Persuaders was published (Sterling and Haight 1978). Packard's readers could see and hear the persuaders in their own living rooms.
Hidden? Persuaders: Subliminal Versus Supraliminal
The book's cover promised a "revealing, often shocking, explanation of new techniques of research and methods of persuasion." It gave "facts that show how today's advertising men are using our hidden urges and frustrations to sell everything from gasoline to politicians." Emphasis is on how hidden urges are being uncovered with new research techniques. Yet The Hidden Persuaders is often misinterpreted. Reports of the book refer primarily to advertisers' insertions of subliminal images into visuals (e.g., Futrelle 1996). Writers mistakenly cite Packard's brief reference to a New Jersey theater flashing advertisements (for popcorn) as his evidence of the existence of widespread usage of subliminal techniques. Subliminal techniques, "embedding material in print, audio or video messages so faintly that they are not consciously perceived" (Rogers and Smith 1993, p. 10), have been debunked among most advertising professionals and researchers (Pratkanis and Greenwald 1988). Nevertheless, subliminal advertising remains a controversial topic. Heated debates in 2004 and 2005 on the AdForum listserv (comprised of academics and advertising professionals) with respect to a new book on the topic, The Secret Sales Pitch, demonstrated that strong opinions still exist.
In actuality, Packard did not use the word subliminal (nor the word popcorn) in The Hidden Persuaders, and devoted very little attention to the process of embedding hidden messages. Three paragraphs on pages 35-36 out of 229 total pages discuss "subthreshold effects," where advertisers seek to "insinuate sales messages to people past their conscious guard" (Packard 1957, p. 35). Packard did not endorse such techniques, nor did he suggest advertisers were widely using them. He merely quoted a newspaper article published in the London Sunday Times in 1956. As Packard's quoted source, a leading psychologist in motivational research at that time, George Horsley Smith (author of Motivation Research in Advertising and Marketing, 1954), expressed skepticism about the study. Packard also questioned the Times about its use of an anonymous source. The source cited the study of a cinema in New Jersey that flashed ice cream ads in split seconds (supposedly below conscious awareness), which resulted in a boost in sales of ice cream.
Rather than focusing on techniques for the creation of embedded messages in advertisements, the book mostly concentrated on research, especially the work of motivational researchers such as Ernest Dichter, president of the Institute for Motivational Research, and Louis Cheskin of the Color Research Institute of America. These men brought psychoanalytical techniques to the study of underlying consumer motives. Dichter in particular was considered the "Father of Motivational Research" (Stern 2004) and one of the founding fathers of advertising research (Bartos 1977). Although Dichter eventually published his own books (e.g., 1960, 1964), it was Packard who successfully brought these ideas to a mass audience. Through conversations with these men and other advertising professionals and exemplar case studies, Packard exposed the use of depth interview techniques. The goal was to get consumers "musing absentmindedly about all the 'pleasures, joys, enthusiasms, agonies, nightmares, deceptions, apprehensions the product recalls to them'" (Smith quote, in Packard 1957, p. 31). With such insight, the creatives could produce more effective advertising.
The techniques were "brought alive" by...
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