Bluntly, it wonât be found to have violated any subliminal marketing rules. Because nothing about it is subliminal.
Liminal = the boundaries of perception.
Sub = under, or below
Subliminal = something you donât consciously see.
What Iâm describing is what could be considered effective advertising. Itâs sticky. It sticks in your head, and you remember it. That isnât illegal.
Money/Monzo is no more subliminal than âBaby Sharkâ is. Itâs catchy, if may be annoying, you could both absolutely hate it but also be unable to forget it - but itâs not subliminal!
Bear in mind also, being catchy and associating your brand closely with the product is only one part of the goal. If the majority of people find the adverts extremely memorable - but also HATE them, thatâs ultimately detrimental to the brand.
This one guy doesnât like the adverts? Thatâs fine! They annoy him? It happens! But subliminal advertising? Nah. Nope. Nowhere near.
(And while I said I wouldnât go fully into it, I feel I have to note now that possibly the first âsubliminal advertisingâ was carried out in cinemas in 1957 before screenings of the William Holden film âPicnicâ, where a marketing dude claimed he increased sales of popcorn and Coca Cola by up to 60%. However, he later admitted he had falsified the data. And yet, on the back of his original claims, this whole mythology has been built. Itâs horseshit.)
Heâs brilliant. We went to see him a long time ago on one of his tours and I was really impressed.
What made me use him as an example is that at the start he asks you to write down a band and a place youâd love to âMcFlyâ to. I didnât catch it at the time, wrote McFly too. They feature again and it was a kinda running joke throughout. It was only when I watched it on tv that I noticed it.
Replying to myself to add a source, one which didnât actually exist back when I did my deep dive into the subject or I wouldâve added it already:
Derren Brown is a fascinating bloke, but heâs broadly a magician and a lot of his stuff can be filed up âmisdirectionâ and âsuggestionâ rather than âsubliminalâ. (Also, and unfortunately, my abiding memory of Brown was when he tried to go a National Lottery trick and blew it by a matter of pxels.)
I also now regret using âBaby Sharkâ as an example when âBadger Badger Badgerâ was RIGHT THERE.
Iâve been on the internet too long. Iâve seen things you people wouldnât believe. Keyboard cats on fire off the shoulder of Orion. I watched Mahir Cagri saying âI kiss you!â near the Geocities gate. All these moments will be lost in time, like tears in rain.*
*Frankly, Iâm happy to lose the goat one, and the tub one. If you donât know you donât want to.
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Anarchist
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Definitely used to hate that. I havenât deliberately listened to radio in 8 years, but heard the ad today at a hospital appointment.
The doctor was talking and I heard the ad, looked at the radio, turned back to the doctor to hear her say, âThatâs definitely not cancer.â
How would the ASA conclude anything construed a subliminal advertisement in that case?
The Regulation of Unfair Practices in TV and Radio Advertisements
5.4.5 Subliminal advertising
No advertisement may use images of very brief duration, or any other
technique which is likely to influence viewers, without their being fully aware of
what has been done
This contains exactly that, including at one point a big hypnotic swirl.
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