Magpie0001

I dont know what started me thinking about this but Im wondering if its for real, or is it just a myth. If it is real can anyone give me an example, of a subliminal message or how its suppoused to work.
Sorry for the short post.
Thanks.









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seretogis

I'm not really sure.

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ratbastid

I can give you the canonical story about them, which may or may not be urban legend.

Evidently a test was done in a movie theater where the words "Coca-cola" and "popcorn" were flashed periodically in one frame of a feature film, and so were on the screen for 1/60th of a second. The story has it that no moviegoers noticed this addition, but that concessions sales doubled.

uncle phil

i've heard that one too, a long time ago...i think art is into this kind of stuff; might want to see what he has to say...

oh, and it's subliminal...

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http://www.snopes.com/business/hidden/popcorn.asp

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Claim: An early experiment in subliminal advertising at a movie theater sunstantially increased sales of popcorn and Coke.

Status: False.

Origins: Public
awareness of what we now term "subliminal advertising" began with the 1957 publication of Vance Packard's book, The Hidden Persuaders. Although Packard did not use the term "subliminal advertising," he did describe many of the new "motivational research" marketing techniques being employed to sell products in the burgeoning post-war American market. Advertisements that focused on consumers' hopes, fears, guilt, and sexuality were designed to persuade them to buy products they'd never realized they needed. Marketers who could reach into the hearts and minds of American consumers soon found consumers' wallets to be within easy grasp as well.

It was James Vicary who coined the term "subliminal advertising." Vicary had conducted a variety of unusual studies of female shopping habits, discovering (among other things) that women's eye-blink rates dropped significantly in supermarkets, that "psychological spring" lasts more than twice as long as "psychological winter," and that "the experience of a woman baking a cake could be likened to a woman giving birth." Vicary's studies were largely forgettable, save for one experiment he conducted at a Ft. Lee, New Jersey movie theater during the summer of 1957. Vicary placed a tachistoscope in the theater's projection booth, and all throughout the playing of the film Picnic, he flashed a couple of different messages on the screen every five seconds. The messages each displayed for only 1/3000th of a second at a time, far below the viewers' threshold of conscious perceptibility. The result of displaying these imperceptible suggestions -- "Drink Coca-Cola" and "Hungry? Eat Popcorn" -- was an amazing 18.1% increase in Coca-Cola sales, and a whopping 57.8% jump in popcorn purchases. Thus was demonstrated the awesome power of "subliminal advertising" to coerce unwary buyers into making purchases they would not otherwise have considered.

Or so goes the legend that has retained its potency for more than forty years. So potent a legend, in fact, that the Federal Communications Commission banned "subliminal advertising" from radio and television airwaves in 1974, despite that fact that no studies have ever shown it to be effective, and even though its alleged efficacy was based on a fraud.

You see, Vicary lied about the results of his experiment. When he was challenged to repeat the test by the president of the Psychological Corporation, Dr. Henry Link, Vicary's duplication of his original experiment produced no significant increase in popcorn or Coca-Cola sales. Eventually Vicary confessed that he had falsified the data from his first experiments, and some critics have since expressed doubts that he actually conducted his infamous Ft. Lee experiment at all.

As usual, the media (and thereby the public) paid attention only to the sensational original story, and the scant coverage given to Vicary's later confession was ignored or quickly forgotten. Radio and television stations began airing subliminal commercials, leading to two congressional bills to ban the practice being introduced in 1958 and 1959 (both of which died before being voted upon). In 1973, Dr. Wilson B. Key picked up where Vicary left off, publishing Subliminal Seduction, an indictment of modern advertisements filled with hidden messages and secret symbols -- messages and symbols that only Dr. Key could discern (including the notorious example of the word "S-E-X" spelled out in the ice cubes pictured in a liquor advertisement). The old "subliminal advertising" controversy was stirred up again by Dr. Key's book, leading to the 24 January 1974 announcement by the FCC that subliminal techniques, "whether effective or not," were "contrary to the public interest," and that any station employing them risked losing its broadcast license.

For neither the first nor the last time, a great deal of time and money and effort was expended on "protecting" the public from something that posed no danger to them. As numerous studies over the last few decades have demonstrated, subliminal advertising doesn't work; in fact, it never worked, and the whole premise was based on a lie from the very beginning. James Vicary's legacy was to ensure that a great many people will never be convinced otherwise, however.

Sightings: The "subliminal cut spurs popcorn sales" is explicitly mentioned in a 1973 Columbo movie ("Double Exposure"), and the acceptance of its principle as fact forms the basis of the episode.

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Subliminal doesn't work, it has never worked, and it's all a hoax. Peetster

ARTelevision

yes. That's a single incident from almost 40 years ago, misreported and passed on as a demonstration of something. It was a flawed mechanistic and shallow way to attempt to demonstrate something as subtle as human suggestibility in the first place.

To use this as a proof of anything isn't good research or documentation technique and is not even on the scale of rigorousness.

The fact is, humans are thoroughly suggestible and manipulable.
The fact is that billions of dollars of research produces advertising and messaging that influences us in subliminal ways.

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Tom Thumb

No, it's been studied extensively, and repeatedly found to not work. What we buy is about our conscious.

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Ninja

lol

that how they introduced brad pit in fight club... single (probably a few frames cuz once u know its there u notice it) frames of tyler poped up at the start of the film

rogue49

Actually, it not the hidden subliminal message that really works.

It's the more obvious, but more subtle subliminal message that works.
Like constant product placement & repetitive ads.

These are very obvious, they don't try to hide.
Like the product placement in movies. (A Coke can on a counter, the label in direct sight of the camera)
The constant hype "Drink Coke"
The colors that are used (red)
The fact that store places these at the end of the aisle (with no difference in price)
and more.

These sooner or later get your attention, your curiousity up
and you'll buy it.

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ARTelevision

Tom Thumb,
We're defining things differently.
There is no clear division between various parts of our minds.
Re-read my statement - I said,
"The fact is, humans are thoroughly suggestible and manipulable.
The fact is that billions of dollars of research produces advertising and messaging that influences us in subliminal ways."

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ARTelevision

it's a significant discussion. better not to polarize it, here.
Tom Thumb, if you're willing to loosen up your categories of what is subliminal and what is not in human perception, that would allow us to go a bit further in the discussion.
There's something in rogue49's response that moves toward a more inclusive view of human perception. I think we could build on that, if you like.

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BBtB

Once again I think I would agree with art if I could figure out half of what he means. I think the point is subliminal messages don't work. However, the more liminal advertisement effects us on the subconscious level. So it really dosn't matter. You end up buying their product without even realizing why.

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ARTelevision

BBtB, thanks. I know my thoughts are occasionally abstruse.
Often however, the compartmentalizations of our language tend to create polarities where none exist. Your statement is clear as a bell and describes the situation exactly. That's what makes this such a potentially valuable discussion.

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spankthru

apparently you can see naked chicks in the ice cubes on drink commercials. I haven't seen any myself, but that's what I hear.

MacGnG

there is no doubting that they are real because it has been done but recent example... not really unless you consider product placement and advertisment design, etc.. then that is sort of like it

subliminal messages in audio however are like those "learn while u sleep" things they produce the same sort of effect on the unconcious mind

if any of these things work, i dunno i havent tried any of them, but supposedly they do

BentNotTwisted

When I was in community college, a long long time ago in a galaxy far far away..., I decided to join the Marketing Club. It may seem like a strange thing to do, but it was the club that arranged the school parties had the most hot chicks as members, nuff said. We took a field trip to Chicago to tour a national marketing firm, can't recall which one. At one point they puts us all in a conference room and we were able to pose questions to some of the staff. I asked point blank, 'Does your company use subliminal advertising for it's customers campaigns?' I was told flatly that they had a policy against doing that, they did not elaborate. This happened in 1980. Not especially long after the FCC ruling. It is bizarre that no one who spoke to us from the comany said anything about it being illegal.

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gibber71

Several years ago when I was a student , I saw an ad for Nescafe coffee,and the steam coming from the cup clearly spelled 'sex.' My sociology professor had a field day with this saying that it very suggestible and since it was so blatant, it reminded people not of sex,but rather that Nescafe coffee was sexy. Gotta be hip to be cool I guess.

YourNeverThere

ya they do that a bunch of times, if you have the dvd you can pause it, even with out pauseing you can see it at normal speed, so it wouldnt really be subliminal

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number9

I would like to think that I can't be manipulated subliminally, but somewhere in my subconscious I think I can. Isn't that odd? I lean towards ARTelevision, not because I want to, but I somehow feel compelled to. I'm only partially joking.

ARTelevision

yeah, I don't want to either.

I don't see why it would have anything to do with what I want though...

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dnd

umm well i i know this isn't subliminal advertising...but when supermarkets put the chewing gum and chocs by the counter it seems to always make people buy the product more than if it were on a shelf...i think its impulse buying and doubt this now has much relevance!
It does work on the mind, and advertising is the same really, u see a catchy advert and if u go shopping ur always more inclined to try the "new" product even if the advert is a cheesy pile of crap!

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