“Do you see why?” Salsbury asked. “There’s not a walnut in that ‘walnut’ wreath. It’s composed of objects that resemble the heads of penises and vaginal slits.”
Unable to speak, Dawson leafed through the other advertisements without asking Salsbury to explain them. Finally he said, “Camel cigarettes, Seagram’s, Sprite, Bacardi Rum Some of the most prominent companies in the country are using subliminals to sell their products.”
“Why shouldn’t they? It’s legal. If the competition uses them, what choice does even the most morally uplifted company really have? Everyone has to stay competitive. In short, there are no individual villains. The whole system is the villain.”
Dawson returned to his executive chair, his face a book of his thoughts. One could read there that he disliked any talk against “the system” and that he was nonetheless shocked by what he had been shown. He was also trying to see how he could make a profit from it. He operated with the conviction that God wanted him to sit in an executive chair at the pinnacle of a billion-dollar corporation; and he was certain that the Lord would help him to see that, although subliminal advertising had a cheap and possibly immoral side to it, there was also an aspect of it that could aid him in his divine mission. As he saw it, his mission was to pile up profits for the Lord; when he and Julia were dead, the Dawson holdings would belong to the church.
Salsbury returned to his seat in front of the desk. The litter of magazine pages on the blotter and bare oak seemed like a collection of pornography. He felt as if he had been trying to titillate Dawson. Irrationally, he was embarrassed.
“You’ve shown me that a great deal of creative effort and money goes into subliminal commercials and ads,” Dawson said. “Evidently, there’s a generally held theory that subconscious sexual stimulation sells goods. But does it? Enough to be worth the expense?”
“Unquestionably! Psychological studies have proved that most Americans react to sexual stimuli with subconscious anxiety and tension. So if the subliminal half of a television commercial for
XYZ soda shows a couple having intercourse, the viewer’s subconscious starts bubbling with anxiety-and that establishes a motivational equation. On the left side of the equals sign, there’s anxiety and tension. To complete the equation and cancel out these bad feelings, the viewer buys the product, a bottle or a case of XYZ. The equation is finished, the blackboard wiped clean.”
Dawson was surprised. “Then he doesn’t buy the product because he believes it will give him a better sex life?”
“Just the opposite,” Salsbury said. “He buys it to escape from sex. The ad fills him with desire on a subconscious level, and by buying that product he is able to satisfy the desire without risking rejection, impotence, humiliation, or some other unsatisfactory experience with a woman. Or if the viewer is a woman, she buys the product to satisfy desire and thus avoids an unhappy affair with a man. For both men and women, the desire is well relieved if the product has an oral aspect. Like food or soda.”
“Or cigarettes,” Dawson said. “Could that explain why so many people have trouble giving up cigarettes?”
“Nicotine is addictive,” Salsbury said. “But there’s no question that subliminals in cigarette ads reinforce the habit in most people.”
Scratching his square chin, Dawson said, “If these are so effective, why don’t I smoke? I’ve seen the ads before.”
“The science hasn’t been perfected yet,” Salsbury said. “If you think smoking is a disgusting habit, if you’ve decided never to smoke, subliminals can’t change your mind. On the other hand, if you’re young, just entering the cigarette market, and have no real opinions about the habit, subliminals can influence you to pick it up. Or if you were once a heavy smoker but kicked the habit, subliminals can persuade you to resume smoking. Subliminals also affect people who have no strong brand preferences. For example, if you don’t drink gin or don’t like to drink at all, subliminals in the Gilbey’s ad won’t make you run out to the liquor store. If you do drink, and if you do like gin, and if you don’t care which brand of gin you drink, these ads could establish a brand preference for you. They work,