IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/jso/coejbm/v1y2013i3p112-135.html

Subliminal Marketing: An Exploratory Research In Lebanon

Author

Listed:
  • HUSSIN HEJASE

    (FACULTY OF BUSINESS & ECONOMICS, AMERICAN UNIVERSITY OF SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY, BEIRUT, LEBANON.)

  • BASSAM HAMDAR
  • GEORGE FARHA
  • ROULA BOUDIAB

    (SCHOOL OF BUSINESS, LEBANESE AMERICAN UNIVERSITY, BEIRUT, LEBANON.)

  • NOURI BEYROUTI

Abstract

Marketing advertising is one of the fundamental activities performed by all businesses. Millions of dollars are budgeted to attract new customers and to retain current customers. However, there has been a continuous debate among marketers about the use of subliminal messages in advertising. Many believe in the power of the subconscious and propose that subliminal messages are hidden in ads and are addressed to that hidden part of the brain. Although researches in this field have not proven that subliminal messages affect human behavior per se, results of the studies that examined the effect of subliminal messages have been contradictory; there is no clear evidence as to how this concept works. The purpose of this paper is to shed light on the dilemma of subliminal messages as used in Lebanese marketing advertising. A sample of MBA students has been exposed to a selection of examples of such messages; the results of these experiments are analyzed, tested, and then analyzed throughout the paper. This research is exploratory in nature and uses two research techniques, namely a survey research to quantify findings, and a qualitative research to conduct an in-depth literature review that is supported by structured interviews with selected figures from the Lebanese market. The outcome is an assessment of the respondents’ literacy and attitude towards subliminal messages. Results help shed light on the topic in question as applied in Lebanon and guide marketers to the advantages and disadvantages of subliminal messages in ads.

Suggested Citation

  • Hussin Hejase & Bassam Hamdar & George Farha & Roula Boudiab & Nouri Beyrouti, 2013. "Subliminal Marketing: An Exploratory Research In Lebanon," Journal of Business & Management (COES&RJ-JBM), , vol. 1(3), pages 112-135, July.
    • Handle: RePEc:jso:coejbm:v:1:y:2013:i:3:p:112-135
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.centreofexcellence.net/J/JBM/Vol1/No.3/Article1,pp.112-135.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Bargh, John A, 2002. "Losing Consciousness: Automatic Influences on Consumer Judgment, Behavior, and Motivation," Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research Inc., vol. 29(2), pages 280-285, September.
    2. Lowery, Brian S. & Eisenberger, Naomi I. & Hardin, Curtis D. & Sinclair, Stacey, 2006. "Long-Term Effects of Subliminal Priming on Academic Performance," Research Papers 1946, Stanford University, Graduate School of Business.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Soomro, Yasir Ali, 2018. "Does subliminal advertisement affect consumer behavior? An exploratory comparative analysis between marketing and non-marketing professionals," MPRA Paper 92124, University Library of Munich, Germany.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Byun, Kyung-Ah (Kay) & Duhan, Dale F. & Dass, Mayukh, 2020. "The preservation of loyalty halo effects: An investigation of the post-product-recall behavior of loyal customers," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 116(C), pages 163-175.
    2. Ericson, Torgeir & Kjønstad, Bjørn Gunaketu & Barstad, Anders, 2014. "Mindfulness and sustainability," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 104(C), pages 73-79.
    3. Merchant, Altaf & Rose, Gregory & Martin, Drew & Choi, Sunmee & Gour, Mohit, 2017. "Cross-cultural folk-tale-elicitation research on the perceived power, humanistic and religious symbolisms, and use of money," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 74(C), pages 113-119.
    4. Fransen, Marieke L. & Fennis, Bob M. & Pruyn, Ad Th. H. & Das, Enny, 2008. "Rest in peace? Brand-induced mortality salience and consumer behavior," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 61(10), pages 1053-1061, October.
    5. Simone Mueller & Larry Lockshin & Jordan Louviere, 2010. "What you see may not be what you get: Asking consumers what matters may not reflect what they choose," Marketing Letters, Springer, vol. 21(4), pages 335-350, December.
    6. Yu, Junwei & Droulers, Olivier & Lacoste-Badie, Sophie, 2022. "Why display motion on packaging? The effect of implied motion on consumer behavior," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 64(C).
    7. Bublitz, Melissa G. & Peracchio, Laura A., 2015. "Applying industry practices to promote healthy foods: An exploration of positive marketing outcomes," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 68(12), pages 2484-2493.
    8. Lee, Richard & Lockshin, Larry, 2011. "Halo effects of tourists’ destination image on domestic product perceptions," Australasian marketing journal, Elsevier, vol. 19(1), pages 7-13.
    9. Sulin Ba & Yuan Jin & Xinxin Li & Xianghua Lu, 2020. "One Size Fits All? The Differential Impact of Online Reviews and Coupons," Production and Operations Management, Production and Operations Management Society, vol. 29(10), pages 2403-2424, October.
    10. D. Vantomme & M. Geuens & J. De Houwer & P. De Pelsmacker, 2005. "Explicit and Implicit Determinants of Fair-Trade Buying Behavior," Working Papers of Faculty of Economics and Business Administration, Ghent University, Belgium 05/350, Ghent University, Faculty of Economics and Business Administration.
    11. Wan, Fang & Ansons, Tamara L. & Chattopadhyay, Amitava & Leboe, Jason P., 2013. "Defensive reactions to slim female images in advertising: The moderating role of mode of exposure," Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, Elsevier, vol. 120(1), pages 37-46.
    12. Krause, Jan S. & Brandt, Gerrit & Schmidt, Ulrich & Schunk, Daniel, 2023. "Don’t sweat it: Ambient temperature does not affect social behavior and perception," Journal of Economic Psychology, Elsevier, vol. 99(C).
    13. Min, Kyeong Sam & Martin, Drew & Jung, Jae Min, 2013. "Designing advertising campaigns for destinations with mixed images: Using visitor campaign goal messages to motivate visitors," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 66(6), pages 759-764.
    14. Ozkara, Behcet Yalin & Bagozzi, Richard, 2021. "The use of event related potentials brain methods in the study of Conscious and unconscious consumer decision making processes," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 58(C).
    15. D. Vantomme & M. Geuens & J. De Houwer & P. De Pelsmacker, 2004. "Implicit Attitudes Toward Green Consumer Behavior," Working Papers of Faculty of Economics and Business Administration, Ghent University, Belgium 04/224, Ghent University, Faculty of Economics and Business Administration.
    16. Ahn, Taehong & Ekinci, Yuksel & Li, Gang, 2013. "Self-congruence, functional congruence, and destination choice," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 66(6), pages 719-723.
    17. Hsu, Liwei & Chen, Yen-Jung, 2020. "Neuromarketing, subliminal advertising, and hotel selection: An EEG study," Australasian marketing journal, Elsevier, vol. 28(4), pages 200-208.
    18. Söderlund, Magnus & Julander, Claes-Robert, 2009. "Physical attractiveness of the service worker in the moment of truth and its effects on customer satisfaction," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 16(3), pages 216-226.
    19. Sabrina Helm & Brintha Subramaniam, 2019. "Exploring Socio-Cognitive Mindfulness in the Context of Sustainable Consumption," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(13), pages 1-17, July.
    20. Abhishek,, 2016. "Do time constraint and emergency purchase situation exert same influence on shopping? A study under haptic touch influence," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 30(C), pages 242-251.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:jso:coejbm:v:1:y:2013:i:3:p:112-135. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: COES&RJ LLC. Maintainer-Workplace-Name: Centre of Excellence for Scientific & Research Journalism - COES&RJ LLC Maintainer-Address: 10685-B Hazelhurst Dr., Houston, TX 77043, USA The email address of this maintainer does not seem to be valid anymore. Please ask COES&RJ LLC. Maintainer-Workplace-Name: Centre of Excellence for Scientific & Research Journalism - COES&RJ LLC Maintainer-Address: 10685-B Hazelhurst Dr., Houston, TX 77043, USA to update the entry or send us the correct address or the person in charge The email address of this maintainer does not seem to be valid anymore. Please ask the person in charge to update the entry or send us the correct address (email available below). General contact details of provider: .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.