Selective perception is not limited to scientific researches for the marketing and advertising. The concept of that is around us. Very often selective perception is the core of a lot of problems and misunderstanding is society.
Selective perception is the basis for stereotypes - we subconsciously select those aspects of the issue or person that correspond to our believes and stereotyped opinion of that person or issue to confirm our previous beliefs. It has been stated in the literature that "communication effect seems to take the form of reinforcement rather than change or conversion to the new ideas" (McQuail Dennis,1984)
The same way selective perceptions create prejudice. They make people to look at the members of a group as though they are all alike. But the are not, are they? So we ignore the differences and focus on similarities.
Want other proofs that we leave in selective perception world?
Can you describe the picture in your library study room or the poster you have just seen next to the elevator?
You selectively choose the stimuli from your environment to respond to and to remember. If you do remember, that means it was somehow important or interesting for you; if you don't - then probably the subject of the poster is not really very close to you.
This seems so simple that we keep forgetting what is behind that.
Selective perception.