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Subliminal Messages in Advertising

Advertising has been part of the American economy for some time. Over that time advertising has grown significantly from a single page ad with one black and white photo to todays million dollar multi-media campaigns, including TV and magazine adds designed specifically to make you want to buy what everyone is selling. At the heart of every advertising campaign is a sales pitch which is obvious. Beginning in the 50s advertisers were looking at all available techniques to get their product sold. This included a very new and untested broadcasting method called subliminal projection.

The idea of using an individuals subliminal perception was a direct result of research in the 50s concerning the human subconscious and how it is effected by the world around us. One man in particular would try to use the subconscious to communicate directly with peoples minds without them even knowing it. The term subliminal messages was born and the use of these messages has risen in the ranks of advertisers wanting to sell their products with increased results. In 1957 a new scare came into the public spotlight.

This scare was given the name subliminal advertising by the father of this new technique, James Vicary. Vicary was the first person to think up subliminal perception and went on after much encouragement to develop a machine capable of testing his theory. Finally Vicary created a company called Subliminal Projection Co. to market his new product. When news of Vicarys new technology reached the public eye it resulted in public hysteria. From the beginning, Vicarys technological invention was labeled as mind altering and destructive.

Still many advertisers quickly adopted this new and untested form of advertising hoping to sell their product in increased numbers. The most noticeable of these advertisers was KTLA in Los Angeles. Soon after announcing their use of subliminal messages a story appeared in the New York Times stating that (KTLA) was certainly playing with fire (Wash 2). This hysteria brought a quick reaction from the FCC (Federal Communication Commission) stating to its members that caution in using the new technique would evidence proper regard for the public interest (Wash 1).

The NAB (National Association of Broadcasters) followed suit by urging its members to not use subliminal messages pending review and consideration (Hidden 2). These FCC and NAB warnings were only the beginning of a long future of government intervention into the use of subliminal advertising. The most prevalent study of the use of subliminal messages has to be the trials conducted by James Vicary in 1957 in a theater in Fort Lee, New Jersey. Vicary used his newly developed machine to flash images onto the screen in five second intervals at a speed of 1/300th of a second.

The claimed results of the test according to Vicary was that cola sales improved by 18% while popcorn sales rose an amazing 58%. Vicary was never able to provide records of his test. Vicary stuck by his claims even though many other scientists could not replicate Vicarys success. One such test was posted in a bulletin from the FCC that said: On January 19, 1958, during a half-hour CBC-TV network program carried on 27 Canadian stations, an undisclosed subliminal message was flashed on the screen 352 times, alternately 1/5 and of a second in duration.

Viewers were asked to report their reactions. The CBC said the experiment proved inconclusive as to the effectiveness of the technique (FCC 2). This was to be only one of many such tests of subliminal messages that failed to produce any results, let alone the one claimed in Vicarys movie theater. The further reckless testing by companies on the public brought concern from many people. One of these people was Aldous Huxley who is the author of A Brave New World who said:

I feel very strongly that we mustnt be caught by surprise by our own advance in technology. This has happened again and again in history with technologys advance, and this changes social conditions and suddenly people have found themselves in a situation which they didnt foresee and doing all sorts of things they didnt really want to do. (Hidden 2) Aldous was one of many thousands of people who didnt approve of companies freely testing their subliminal messages on them.

This is one of the reasons for the FCCs quick reactions to this new technology. Subliminal messages were designed as a sort of mind altering technology, whos purpose was to imbed a message in an individuals mind and hopefully get a desired change in the individuals actions. This technology could have many uses from military to civilian, the biggest of which is media advertising. The theory behind subliminal messages started with the scientific discovery of a different type of perception for individuals.

This new level of perception was labeled the subconscious, where images and words were picked up by the mind but at such a low level of strength that they were not perceived in the normal conscious sense. In the traditional sense, subconscious perception involves images, colors and shapes that are automatically picked up by the mind without the individual knowing it consciously. Examples of subliminal messages are images flashed on a movie screen at a incredibly fast rate such as 1/300 of a second or audio that is played below the level of the music or talk that is masking it.

Many scientists have conducted their own experiments with subliminal messaging. Many have had success when the subjects to be tested were primed for the desired action and then shown the subliminal messages. All these studies have suggested that subliminal images can, at best, only encourage an existing desire. James Vicary put it best when he described subliminal images as a mild form of advertising and a very weak persuader (Wash 1).

When the subjects to be shown the subliminals are not primed, in advance, the results have been inconclusive to the point that subliminal technologies have turned up no evidence of a subliminal persuasion effect (Fallacy 1). The hype surrounding subliminal messages died in the mid 60s. Even the father of subliminals, James Vicary said All I accomplished, I guess, was to put a new word into common usage. And The whole affair was much ado about nothing (Vicary 1). Vicarys business went bankrupt following the reduced interest that people were taking in the unproved theory.

The interest for subliminals was rekindled in the late 70s by desperate companies needing results. Television stations and radio started using the subliminal messages once again and in greater force than before. This soon got the FCCs attention and they quickly developed guidelines by which subliminals would be regulated. The FCC also went so far as to state that subliminals are not protected under 1st amendment because they cannot be classified as traditional speech. The height of subliminal decisions came with the trial of Judas Priest in 1985.

The plaintiffs were parents of two boys that attempted suicide after listening to the 1978 Judas Priest album Stained Class in which the words Do it supposedly were heard subconsciously. The trial demanded that many decisions on subliminal speech be made. In that trial, Judge Jerry Whitehead declared that subliminals are not protected speech, due to the fact that hidden messages do not impart information as do statements that are actually heard (Suicide 2). The defendants quickly turned to the supposed existence of the words Do it and the strength that subliminals posses.

The band was later acquitted of the charges after the strength of subliminals was not deemed enough to cause someone to commit suicide, unless the idea was already firmly in place. Furthermore the words Do it were never proven to be an intended part of the recording. The trials verdict was declared a victory for the entire music industry. To this day subliminals are still claimed to be in use in advertising and even in playful jokes. In the mid 70s during subliminals comeback, Wilson Key released his book entitled Subliminal Seduction. In that book Key wrote:

It is virtually impossible to pick up a newspaper or magazine, turn on a radio or television set, read a promotional pamphlet or the telephone book, or shop through a supermarket without having your subconscious purposely massaged by some monstrously clever artist, photographer, writer, or technician. (Key 11) Key attacked almost every advertisement he saw claiming that it contained subliminal messages. A new term was even coined by Key called embeds. Key claimed that embeds were words and pictures that were inserted into advertisements to obtain desired results through subliminal perception.

Key went so far as to say that the advertising industry has spent millions of dollars on these so called embeds, but Key could never produce any proof that companies were deliberately creating them. Without a doubt, Keys most popular embeds are the letters S E X appearing in everything from jackets to Ritz crackers. Key followed up his book with several others including one called the Clam-Plate Orgy. The title itself came from Keys description of a Howard Johnsons table mat that Key saw as blatant suggestions of group sex and bestiality little people and animals writhing around in ecstasy (Embeds 2).

Key is not the only person to see subliminals. The ALL (American Life League) claims to have seen many subliminal messages in Disney released movies including: The Little Mermaid, The Lion King, and Aladdin. An example of this would include the scene from The Lion King in which S-E-X is spelled out in a wisp of dust. Others examples include the words all good teenagers take off your clothes (Survives 1) spoken in the film Aladdin, as well as an erection in one of the characters in The Little Mermaid.

These messages and images are claimed to be found in many other advertisements ranging from Marlboro ads to the Jehovahs Witness publication the Watchtower Observer. All are suggestions that subliminal messages are not dead. Scene from The Lion King Lucky Strike adPack of Camel cigarettes Today the use of subliminal messages and their power to change the thoughts and views of individuals has not yet been proven. Psychologist James V. McConnel said when describing subliminal messages that secret attempts to manipulate peoples minds have yielded results as subliminal as the stimuli used (Survives 1).

But still the fears of the 50s concerning subliminal messages and their believed mind altering/twisting effects are alive and well in the uninformed publics mind. This in part is thanks to the writings of the paranoid Wilson Key and the undocumented studies of the father of subliminal messages, James Vicary. Until a conclusive experiment can be accomplished that details the effects of subliminal messages on the human mind there will still be hard core believers who will watch, and those who will even create, subliminal messages for those willing to use them.

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