Think about TV ads. Analyze. Ask questions.

Consider these ideas for your own compositions.

Most ads do not have hidden purposes; they simply sell a product or service.

But, two big qualifications are needed.

First, some common psychological strategies are used in ads, and many people object to them. Vance Packard (in The Hidden Persuaders, 1957 ) first publicized the shift in ads, away from product-centered ("product as hero") toward audience-centered ads using a strategy associating the product with the consumer's needs and wants.

These "association" techniques were never deep, dark secrets, then or now, but the average person was often unaware of them, and not trained in schools to analyze them.

Later, in a popular book, J. W. Key (Subliminal Seduction) claimed that secret messages were being imbedded in ads (S-E-X in the ice cubes of whiskey ads) so that people responded to them, unaware that they had been secretly manipulated. Some religious groups even charged that "Satanic messages" were secretly imbedded in rock and roll songs.

Such conspiracy theories always find some believers. But, if such techniques were really effective, both consumerists and cynical advertisers agree that everyone would be using them.

Such focus on secret "mind control" not only implies our lack of free will, but also diverts attention from the genuine issue: preparing the greatest number of people to recognize the commonly known and unsecret techniques of persuasion.

Secondly, corporate ads often do have hidden or indirect purposes. Also called "institutional ads" or "image ads" or "advocacy ads," such ads from large corporations not selling a consumer product (e.g. oil and chemical companies, defense and space industries) are designed to make us "feel good" about the company.

Such multi-million dollar public relations campaigns are usually intended to create a climate of "good will" or favorable public opinion, when the companies or special interest groups seek tax breaks, favorable laws, or exemption from bureaucratic "red tape" regulations. Nor do big corporations want the voting public to perceive them unfavorably, for example, as polluters or "middlemen," or war profiteers or "merchants of death."

Eight "magic" words: Currently,* the verbs used in American political campaigns are extremely important because a "loophole" in the law was created when the Supreme Court ruled that "issue ads" run by political parties, corporations, and unions are not subject to federal election campaign spending limits if they did not use words of express advocacy (i.e., use words such as "vote for," "elect," "cast your ballot for," "Smith for Congress," "vote against," "defeat," or "reject"). For more about this important controversy, see: Issue Ads. * [In the 2000 campaign, $500 million was spent on such issue ads. On December 10, 2003, the Supreme Court closed that legal loophole, but said they were "under no illusion" that politicians would stop seeking another way: "Money, like water, always finds an outlet."]