What Do Consumers Do Emotionally with Advertising?

ABSTRACT Between 15 and 25 years ago (1980–1990), radical new thinking emerged about how advertising “works” that is still applicable today. At the time this thinking about emotions and subconscious processing was provocative and challenging, yet it failed to take root. Why? The first objective of this article is to revisit the key hypotheses presented in three very different articles written during this decade. The second objective is to demonstrate through current hard science that the thinking in each case was sound and can now be scientifically proven and, furthermore, that this knowledge is neither heretical nor to be feared. Instead it can lead to innovative and successful marketing solutions that align the interests of organizations (company, brand, product, service) with those of human beings (consumers, customers).