In Seducing the Subconscious, Dr. Robert Heath explores how advertising influences our daily shopping decisions and how little we are aware of this impact. He explains why the most successful advertising campaigns are not those with messages we love, hate, find interesting, or new, but rather those that reach us effortlessly and shape our behavior without our awareness. His thesis is based on an extensive journey bridging cognitive science and evolutionary psychology, providing a solid understanding of how the human mind works. Dr. Heath reviews four different models of persuasion:
1. In the traditional persuasion model (AIDA), ads grab attention and deliver one or more persuasive messages. These messages change beliefs about the brand, which in turn shifts attitudes and behaviors, leading to purchase.
2. Krugman’s Low Involvement Model argues that ads mostly work at low levels of attention and that persuasive messages are ineffective. The problem with this model is it cannot explain how ads influence attitudes or beliefs if messages are not processed. Any attitude change under this model tends to be minimal.
3. Ehrenberg’s Reinforcement Model claims that fundamental changes occur after product use. According to Ehrenberg, usage leads to significant belief changes about the brand, implying ads are effective even at low attention levels. This model suggests ads reinforce existing attitudes toward the brand.
4. Petty and Cacioppo’s Elaboration Likelihood Model combines elements of persuasion and low involvement models. Generally, it operates like the persuasion model, producing meaningful attitude and belief changes. But in specific cases, it resembles Krugman’s low involvement model, resulting in short-term and minor changes.
Marketers define involvement as the level of personal relevance an individual perceives toward a product, service, brand, or marketing message, as well as the intensity of mental and emotional effort they devote in response. They call involvement the heart of advertising. Moreover, no matter how creative an ad is, if the viewer, reader, or audience thinks “this doesn’t concern me,” the ad’s impact will be minimal.
How Advertising Evolved
Companies advertise to promote products or services they want to sell. Until the eighteenth century, advertising was hardly used. But with the invention of television, it was believed that ads enriched with moving images and action would be more engaging than static pictures. Then, in February 2003, everything changed unexpectedly. A study conducted by London Business School (LBS), using cameras installed in homes, revealed a disappointing fact for marketers: viewers rarely actually watch these ads.
Today, almost all viewers skip ads by fast-forwarding when watching pre-recorded programs, especially on platforms like YouTube. As a result, advertisers and marketers no longer clearly state what product, or even which product family, is being advertised until the end of the ad. But does this solve the problem? The assumption is that if you don’t know what is being advertised during the ad, you’ll pay closer attention. But if people aren’t interested in watching ads in the first place, what good does this strategy do? They either change the channel before the ad ends or don’t watch it at all. Of course, viewers often use multiple screens and channels simultaneously. Even if they focus on only one, they still receive messages from others in their peripheral vision!
According to David Mick, “The ideology of consumption now extends globally and encompasses customer choice. However, in today’s advanced economies, increasing shopping occurs within ever-decreasing free time amidst a constant flood of new products, brands, and brand extensions.” Mick and his team contend that an excess of choices can overwhelm people; while initially appealing, this abundance often results in dissatisfaction and psychological fatigue. Ultimately, when confronted with too many options, people tend to examine fewer rather than more.
The problem is that although the Persuasion Model is the strongest model for changing attitudes, it is also the least sustainable. Viewers simply do not pay enough attention for persuasive messages to reach them effectively. Yet, neither the Low Involvement Model nor Ehrenberg’s Reinforcement Model proves more effective than the traditional Persuasion Model.
So, what works in advertising?
Learning and Attention in the Psychology of Communication
The author distinguishes between attention and learning as follows:
1. Conscious learning—that is, learning with attention
2. Automatic learning—that is, learning without attention
These two occur in three different ways:
• Active learning: This process happens at high levels of attention and is a highly cognitive process, very useful for interpreting and analyzing events. However, it requires conscious will and thus is rarely used in processing advertisements.
• Passive learning: This occurs at low levels of attention and is a low-cognitive process. It is not useful for analysis but is quite effective for long-term attitude change. Frankly, I’m uncertain if it’s necessary to analyze beliefs and attitudes in message-based persuasion processes.
• Implicit learning: This happens independently of attention and is continuous. Its weakness lies in the fact that it is not linked to explicit memory, making it unusable for interpretation and analysis.
During the learning process, three distinct mental activities take place:
• Recording everything we perceive,
• Aligning events with past experiences stored in our memory, that is, conceptualization, and
• Analyzing and interpreting events through an analysis process.
Implicit learning engages the perception and conceptualization phases but functions independently of the analysis process. However, for advertising to be persuasive, a thorough analytical process is essential. This involves a cognitive process, meaning the ad’s message is at least partly absorbed through active learning. On the other hand, recognizing the advertised brand is a relatively straightforward task achieved primarily through passive learning. Message interpretation and brand perception can be disrupted by perceptual filtering, which weakens the overall persuasion effect.
Even if all these communication barriers are overcome, the viewer still has one final defense mechanism: counter-arguing. Similar to perceptual filtering, counter-arguing can undermine persuasion. However, it requires a relatively high level of attention and is generally ineffective against attitude changes that occur at low levels of attention.
This presents a dilemma: because implicit learning is continuous and perceptual filtering operates subconsciously, counter-arguing advertisements is impossible.
Feelings and Consciousness: Emotional Processing
Zajonc’s studies in the 1980s demonstrated that emotional responses take precedence—they occur first in every situation, are unstoppable, and difficult to express, which is why they are often conveyed through nonverbal communication.
In 2003, António Damásio explained that feelings are reactions to emotions and that emotions always precede feelings. Damásio defined the external triggers causing emotional responses as Emotionally Competent Stimuli (ECS).
Most importantly for advertising, Damásio argued that evoking an emotion does not require a real-time ECS; emotions can also be retrieved from procedural memory (autopilot memory, that is, actions performed without conscious thought). A viewer exposed to an ad while distracted can have their semi-conscious feelings strengthened through repetition, with conditioning preventing that association from fading from memory.
In other words, whenever we are exposed to communication, we always gain something, and these gains reinforce over time. As the saying goes, “If you don’t have anything nice to say, don’t say anything at all,” or “Like attracts like.”
Daniel Dennett’s Multiple Drafts Theory aligns perfectly with Damásio’s concepts of the Pre-Self and Core Consciousness, our author explains. This theory clarifies why implicit learning and implicit memory function at the subconscious level in both perceptual and conceptual ways. It reveals how implicit learning interacts with semantic memory in the subconscious.
In short, this theory explains how we know and feel things without even realizing we learned them. Emotional processing of a stimulus in the brain occurs implicitly before active or passive learning takes place. This means automatic processing and implicit learning are responsible for handling the emotional content of advertisements and shaping our feelings toward them. In his book, Robert Heath draws on Dennett’s multiple drafts theory to illustrate how consciousness interacts with learning in the individual:
Learning either takes place fully consciously at a high level of attention—which is hard to sustain and rarely engaged in during advertising recall—or it occurs subconsciously, in a fully automatic way that simply records perceptions, allows their conceptualization, and continues relentlessly without interruption.
The phase where passive learning occurs can be described by Dennett’s concept of “fluid consciousness leading to sudden forgetting.” However, as emotional content is processed automatically, it is subject to perceptual filtering and remains unaffected by counter-argument mechanisms. Emotional processing can sometimes trigger feelings that likewise cannot be filtered out or countered, although their outward expression may be suppressed.
This way, it is indeed quite possible to instill positive feelings about a brand in the viewer through advertising!
One unresolved question remains: what is the long-term impact of persistent misinformation campaigns carried out by trolls on today’s social media? These messages, often without a real person behind them, function as clickbait that may initially spark curiosity but eventually lead to fatigue and lose effectiveness. Nevertheless, whether positive or negative, trolling ultimately raises brand awareness and recognition in consumers’ minds. The key question is: what is the lasting residue of this impact?
Considering digital channels as active platforms, ads are likely to attract high attention, provoke opposing views, and lodge temporarily in short-term memory, but are less likely to transfer into long-term memory. Definitive research confirming this is still lacking.
Decisions and Relationships: The Subconscious Seduction Model
António Damásio refers to the markers gained through perceptual experiences as “somatic markers” (the physiological traces of emotional experiences in our bodies). Somatic markers are learned, special feelings used to predict future outcomes of certain scenarios. When a negative somatic marker is paired with a specific future result, this combination acts like an alarm bell. Conversely, a positive somatic marker is interpreted as a signal that evokes desire. Damásio believes we continuously create these markers throughout life, yet we are generally unaware of them or their effects. Somatic markers sometimes function without entering consciousness, creating what feels like a “gut reaction.” Although decisions stem from our rational mind, in practice, they are guided by our emotions; this influence doesn’t require conscious awareness and is almost always implicit. Hidden markers in our subconscious cause us to be influenced by advertisements without realizing it.
Paul Watzlawick also emphasizes that in emotional communication and brand relationships, what matters is not what is said but how it is said. In advertising, brand relationships are shaped not by rational messages but by emotional creativity. Ads influence brand loyalty by making us feel good about the brand. This emotional content may be conveyed through background music, expressive people, humorous or dramatic situations, such as goosebumps, a pang in the heart, beautiful landscapes, and similar elements.
The Subconscious Seduction Model
The author’s view on how 21st-century TV ads, which still hold their importance, affect us is as follows:
• Everything starts with emotional meta-communication content. This may be a feeling present throughout the ad that influences our emotions about the brand, or emotional values tied to a part of the ad that relate to the brand.
• Generally, we like positive emotional content and tend to trust what we like. Especially with TV ads, we rarely pay close attention. When we do pay attention, it is mostly because we want to form a counterargument against the ad’s message. The more we like and trust an ad, the less inclined we are to counter-argue its message, and consequently, the less attention we pay.
• As Robert F. Bornstein discovered, the lower our attention to an ad or part of it, the less likely we are to form a counter-argument, increasing the chance that our emotions will be affected.
• The more an ad influences our emotions, the easier it is for it to create positive feelings toward the brand and foster brand loyalty. These conditioned associations and positive connections lead us to feel better about the brand.
• One of Paul Watzlawick’s key findings is that while the content of communication and the ad’s messages fade quickly, emotional meta-communication creates emotional brand attitudes that are stored in implicit memory for a long time. When choosing between two similar brands in the future, we tend to pick the one we prefer, even though we do not remember how these attitudes formed, which makes their influence difficult to resist.
• This explains why it’s difficult to remember ads. The details of ads fade quickly because they are complex false memories; the paths to recall become blurred and can be erased. We accept that the rational content in TV ads, which we rarely focus on, disappears as quickly as the ad itself. However, the emotional meta-communication that shapes our feelings about the brand remains in our minds for a long time without our awareness.
In summary, brand-related attitudes fall into two groups:
• Explicit: attitudes we are aware of and can recall.
• Implicit: attitudes we are unaware of and cannot recall.
Behavioral changes also fall into two categories:
• Rational: based on reasoning.
• Intuitive: based on stored markers or feelings from past comparable experiences.
We can form counter-arguments against explicit behavioral changes and rational actions, but we cannot make decisions that conflict with our emotions. However, it is nearly impossible to defend ourselves against implicit attitude changes and intuitive behaviors. We cannot recognize changes in implicit attitudes unless explicitly told by someone else. In intuitive behaviors, it is also impossible to discover the source of our intuition.
Emotionally Competent Brand Associations, or brand awareness communications containing emotions and feelings, lie between subconscious automatic processing and conscious attention-based processes. For example, the Marlboro Cowboy phenomenon is not implicit itself, and people know which brands these belong to.
These triggers, known as Emotionally Competent Stimuli (ECS), activate strong and relevant emotional concepts. Through repeated exposure, these elements convince us that the brand carries the same emotional concepts as the trigger itself. For instance, the cowboy conditions viewers to associate Marlboro cigarettes with feelings of freedom and independence. This subtly changes our attitudes toward brands without us even realizing it. This is similar to well-known jingles or jokes, such as our Çokoprens (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IFukRPMC7lw) or Çokomilk commercials (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ydfg2uetV-89). It also applies to national pride appeals or altered versions of famous songs, like MAVİ’s “Çok Oluyoruz” (https://youtu.be/zQ_FCcW9qo4?si=UW-eGJzsxLR7BvGw), or Ülker’s “Ülkersiz Çay Saati Düşünülemez” commercials (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dWWlBqZOZoo).
Every communication we receive contains multiple components that shape the message’s unique characteristics. These components are called meta-communication, and in advertising, this is referred to as creativity. Creativity in ads influences our emotions and feelings, and as a result, meta-communication significantly impacts our relationship with the brand. This process occurs largely at an implicit level, and most of us are not even aware that we hold feelings toward brands.
Ultimately, ads we actively follow are processed deeply, consciously analyzed, and stored in low-capacity, less durable memory. Ads that receive only passive attention, however, are processed superficially, conceptualized at a semi-conscious level, and stored in high-capacity, more durable memory.
In short, when ads attract high attention, they are more likely to be scrutinized, met with counter-arguments, and stored in short-term memory. When they receive low attention, they are more likely to bypass our filters and form connections in long-term memory.
An exception, often overlooked by advertisers, is that although advertising is aimed at consumers, it is also consciously monitored and evaluated in the marketplace by sales teams, clients, and other stakeholders. Advertising serves as a signal that the company supports its product. For example, one reason a particular ad of ours—which I didn’t see as a communication success—received positive feedback from our sales team in the market was, first, that it was the first time the product was advertised again after a long hiatus, and second, that the ad featured the happiness of a little girl, which resonated well with many fathers in the sales organization. Nevertheless, I believe this alone is not sufficient.
Looking at Today
The most important message from Dr. Heath’s work is that every detail in advertising is stored in implicit memory in some way and can influence the subconscious to change shopping behavior, whether in the near or distant future. This means ads can work without being overtly persuasive. When Emotionally Competent Stimuli (ECS) are perceived, they trigger certain concepts to affect our feelings, and ultimately, the emotional bonds in our subconscious influence our relationship with the brand. Creativity, often referred to as meta-communication, comprises various components that shape the message’s characteristics. This process establishes an emotional connection with the brand and affects our purchasing attitudes, positively or negatively.
We can’t make decisions that conflict with our emotions, and when we are in a hurry, our feelings often make decisions on our behalf through intuition. For instance, a campaign film we prepared for a global launch at Godiva tested positively in Europe but was not well received in the more conservative U.S. market, requiring a separate edit.
When you read this book, its greatest contribution will be its success in translating these concepts from theory into practice through real-world advertising examples.
So far, the hierarchical model most advertisers have relied on is the AIDA model, which consists of four stages: Attention, Interest, Desire, and Action.
The ELM explains persuasion through central and peripheral routes. Robert Heath’s “Subconscious Seduction” model, however, focuses not on persuasion but on emotional advertising. It argues that ads can be effective even without overt persuasion. This model aims to connect consumers to a brand or product by using emotional responses and subconscious interaction. Emotionally impactful ads help consumers remember the brand and develop positive feelings toward the product. The book includes striking examples to support this, though these examples must be evaluated within the life, culture, and beliefs of the target audience.
Reviewing all the ads cited in the book, we see that Heath’s model emphasizes that the content used to create emotional connections must be consistent and meaningful to the brand or product. We should recognize that emotional ads may not have the same effect on every consumer, and the impact of communication varies across different demographic groups and cultures. Additionally, emotional interaction may be less important than other factors in certain sectors or product categories.
A strong advertising strategy should aim both to create emotional impact and to build connections that align with the brand or product. The content should be consistent with the strategy, conveying meaningful messages that highlight the brand’s attributes, values, or benefits. This approach enables emotional impact to encourage viewers to remember the brand, desire the product, and ultimately make a purchase. For the Subconscious Seduction model to be effective, a balance between content and strategy is crucial. Moreover, content used to create emotional impact must be aligned with and meaningful to the brand or product, as this increases the likelihood that viewers will remember the ad and form a connection with the brand.
The effectiveness of emotional advertising may vary depending on consumers’ experiences, values, cultural contexts, and demographics. For example, some consumers may respond positively to an emotional ad, while others may perceive it as emotional manipulation. Therefore, the impact of emotional interaction varies according to the target audience and market segment.
Moreover, in some sectors or product categories, emotional interaction may be less important than other factors. For example, some purchasing decisions rely more on logic or information and may not be directly influenced by emotional appeals. In such cases, the overall effectiveness of the Subconscious Seduction model can be questioned. Nevertheless, for certain brands or campaigns, emotional interaction can be very effective. Especially when the goals include building brand loyalty or brand image, emotional connections encourage consumers to remember, prefer, and build long-term relationships with the brand.
In conclusion, experts agree that the Subconscious Seduction model is not universally applicable to all brands or campaigns, but it remains a valid approach for non-durable FMCG products. This seems quite reasonable, doesn’t it? When developing advertising strategies, it is important to consider the target audience and sector, evaluate different approaches, and measure effectiveness.
Currently, 45% of advertising investments are spent on TV, and nearly 45% on digital platforms. Does Robert Heath’s Subconscious Seduction model apply to digital media? Possibly. While the medium, communication style, and source may evolve, do the way people are persuaded, what motivates them, or what convinces them also change? What matters here is whether the message is consumed on a passive or active medium and how efficiently it can be repeated. These two variables should also be added to Heath’s model. As I mentioned earlier, this topic requires further research.
So, why did I decide to write this article based on Robert Heath’s theory-filled, explanatory, and example-rich book?
The Cannes Advertising Festival is held annually, and this year it took place on June 16, 2025. Out of curiosity, I attended once myself and later encouraged our marketing departments to participate. This year, thanks to friends who attended, I reviewed a summary report and several articles covering the festival. Advertisers discussed how artificial intelligence is driving creative disruption in the industry.
Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Meta, went as far as to say that soon brands will only need to define their target and set their budget per outcome, leaving the rest to AI. Meta claims its “Advantage+” system has boosted return on ad spend by 22%, while Google reports that its “Performance Max” product has increased sales by more than 10%. What’s more, Google has even started testing ads in AI-powered search modes.
From the Cannes report, I gathered that producing creative content has become a goal for technology companies as well. At Cannes, TikTok showcased AI-powered tools that generate video ads from text and images. Meta announced a set of new AI features that automatically personalize ad copy in ten languages, tailored to target audiences. Google has started producing high-impact TV ads within 48 hours for just $2,000 using AI tools. We have also begun creating some ads with AI support. However, research indicates that when the target audience becomes aware that the ad was created with AI, its effectiveness declines (***).
Advertising agencies assert they will retain their market position despite AI’s rise. They argue that in a world where every brand can produce mediocre content, standout content becomes increasingly valuable. Meta and TikTok’s tools primarily serve small businesses. Some agencies have transitioned from hourly billing to fixed-fee models. While AI reduces the time required, clients often redirect the budget saved toward purchasing additional advertising through the agency.
However, investors in this sector are reportedly skeptical. Since early 2024, the share prices of four of the five largest advertising holding companies have declined. It is said that WPP is searching for a new CEO, and Omnicom and Interpublic plan to merge by year-end to reduce costs. Only Publicis appears to have gained confidence thanks to its AI investments.
Yes, AI has the potential to transform the advertising industry in even more interesting ways. As users move away from traditional search engines toward AI-powered chatbots, advertisers will increasingly seek ways to have their brands recommended by models like ChatGPT or Google Gemini.
Some advertising agencies have already started producing ad copy aimed not directly at people but at the content these AI models crawl online. For example, a startup called Evertune has begun analyzing AI preferences by asking thousands of questions about product categories. The results vary based on the training data of the models: Meta’s model relies more on social media content, while ChatGPT and Google’s models lean more on forums like Reddit.
Influencing the information sources AI models depend on means building loyal online audiences. This underscores the continued importance of conventional public relations (PR) activities. For instance, converting infographics into text and creating detailed product descriptions can positively influence large language models (LLMs), since even lengthy texts that may bore people can be sufficient to persuade these models.
As AI-powered “agents” start making purchasing decisions on behalf of people, advertisers will also have to figure out how to influence these digital assistants. But is this still advertising? For example, Google’s new shopping agent notifies users when a product’s price drops below a certain threshold. Such agents may soon make even more complex purchasing decisions.
So, at Cannes, discussions centered on a near future where advertisements will be entirely generated by AI. This seems inevitable. However, I believe advertisers still need to use AI to analyze models like those of Robert Heath, understand consumers, and study how advertising works in the digital world. They need to ask questions like the ones I have raised and actively seek the answers. In my view, the trend now should be to move forward by combining easily accessible academic knowledge about the new advertising landscape with the advantages AI offers. This, indeed, should be the way forward.
References
(*) Heath R. (2023). Bilinçaltını Ayartmak, The Kitap Yayınları, 2nd edition, p.288.
(**) https://www.economist.com/business/2025/06/18/ai-is-turning-the-ad-business-upside-down
(***) Hanson S., Carlson J., and Pressler H. (2025). The Differential Impact of AI Salience on Advertising Engagement and Attitude: Scary Good AI Advertising, Journal Of Advertising Research, 1740-1909.
Note: This open-source article does not require copyright and can be quoted by citing the author.
