Abstract:

The aim of this paper is to reawaken interest in researching the ways that advertising works at subconscious levels and to focus attention on how qualitative research can attempt to elicit these subconscious responses. Many consumers are not particularly interested in advertising: it is just one of a myriad of influences vying for their attention in this fast moving and complex industrialised society. As a result they often give it very little of their conscious attention and leave their subconscious autopilot to take care of most of it. The problem is, however, that most advertisers concentrate exclusively on trying to grab the consumers' conscious attention and give scant regard to the advertising's possible subconscious effects.