Subliminal Messages

This is an ad for Axe body spray for men. The ad displays a guy who is made entirely of chocolate and has a fixated look and creepy smile whilst holding Axe. The caption states that, “Axe Dark Temptation, as irresistible as chocolate.” Axe compares their product to chocolate, which is a well-enjoyed commodity amongst the general public. By doing so, the company is essentially claiming that their product is just as well received by consumers.

By having a strange looking man covered in chocolate promote their product, people will view this ad as being humorous and because the ad was enjoyable, people will want to buy the body spray. The ad also appeals to consumers' desires; Axe claims that their body spray is just 'as irresistible as chocolate' and considering that girls typically love chocolate, boys who use the body spray will become irresistible to girls. Boys will have flocks of girls chasing them and this is more or less every boy's dreams.

Many ads besides this one deceive people and manipulate their perception of the product by appealing to emotions and desires. The quality of the product is rarely put into consideration, it is rather up to the companies to persuade buyers into believing the product will be beneficial to them. Even though the product is not any better than other similar products or the product may not even be necessary, people still feel compelled to buy these items due to the tiny subliminal messages hidden within advertisements.

Advertisements classically condition us to relate their product to something irrelevant. Coined by Russian psychologist, Ivan Pavlov, classical conditioning is a process of learning in which a neutral stimulus acquires the ability to produce a response that was originally produced by a different stimulus. The neutral stimulus is some stimulus that causes a sensory response but does not produce the reflex being tested. In this case, the neutral stimulus is the Axe body spray, it causes a sensory response to the olfaction. The unconditioned stimulus is some stimulus that triggers or elicits a physiological reflex: chocolate. The unconditioned response is an unlearned, innate, involuntary physiological reflex that is elicited by the unconditioned stimulus: hunger. Finally, the conditioned stimulus is the formerly neutral stimulus which has acquired the ability to elicit the conditioned response: Axe [Dark Temptation] and hunger, respectively. Due to this classical conditioning, it is made to believe that if girls smell the Axe body spray, they will associate it with chocolate and since chocolate is so irresistible, the boy using the spray will become irresistible as well and girls will hunger, or desire, for the boy. The boy would want this outcome and therefore, buys the product.

Ads are all around us and unknowingly, we fall for them not because the product is great, but because of its underlying messages.