In its simplest terms subliminal advertising is a way of exposing consumers to products and brand messages without the recipient being aware of it. The theory is that once someone has been exposed to a subliminal advertising message they are more likely to act upon it without without realizing that they are responding to an unseen stimulus.

In 1957 James Vicary, a market researcher, claimed that over a six-week period, over 45,000 cinema goers in New Jersey were exposed to two subliminal advertising messages, Eat Popcorn and Drink Coca-Cola, whilst watching the film Picnic. The message was flashed for 3/1000 of a second every five seconds and because it was so quick none of the movie goers realized that they were being exposed to any messages. It was then alleged that over the next six weeks sales of popcorn rose by 57% and Coca-Cola by 18.1%. There is huge doubt over the validity of his claims as there was never any evidence to prove his claims but he is the man widely credited with creating the term subliminal advertising. The experiment was recreated 50 years later at the International Brand Marketing Conference Marka 2007 where 1400 delegates watched the same film and were exposed to 30 messages over a 90 second period and when they were later asked to choose between two different brands 81% chose that brand that they had received the subliminal messages for.

Since 1957 there have been a plethora of claims about subliminal advertising ranging from the naked man on the Camel Cigarette packet to the six packs of Pepsi Cool which were withdrawn in 1990 after claims that the design on the cans when positioned in a particular way actually spelt out the word SEX. There have also been suggestions that there are subliminal messages within music and when in the 1990's two men shot themselves it was suggested that it was a subliminal message contained in a song by British rock band Judas Priest called Better By You, Better Than Me that told them to 'do it'. It is also alleged that the Queen song Another One Bites The Dust contains messages telling people to smoke marijuana.

The ability to tap into the unconscious mind and therefore being able to manipulate and controlling us is a frightening concept but one that has been used for a long time.

Learn more about this author, Noleen Wyatt-Jones.
Click here to send author comments or questions.

---

Add your voice

Know something about How do subliminal ads work??
We want to hear your view. Write now!