mental_floss magazine
SUBSCRIBE >
GIFT SUBSCRIPTIONS >
DIGITAL SUBSCRIPTIONS >
subscriber services >
Subliminal: from the Latin for “beneath the threshold.” First described by psychologists around the turn of the last century and coming into widespread use in the late 50s (a theater operator falsely claimed that brief flashes of “Hungry? Eat popcorn!” drove concessions sales through the roof), subliminal messages were outlawed after they appeared in a 1973 commercial for a Danish memory game called Hūsker Dū? (”do you remember?”). Flashes of the message “Get it!” prompted complaints from viewers, and the FCC responded by saying that subliminal ads were “contrary to the public interest” and “intended to be deceptive.”
Five years later, the FCC specifically okayed one instance of subliminal “advertising,” in a Wichita, Kansas TV news report about the BTK killer’s 1978 killing of Nancy Fox, whose glasses were found lying near her body. The message included the text “Now call the chief” and a drawing of a pair of glasses, which the police apparently hoped would stir up some remorseful emotion in the killer, were he watching. Certainly the only known instance of police trying to subliminally hypnotize a killer into turning himself in — and it didn’t work.
There are few modern instances of blatant subliminal advertising, but critics claim that McDonald’s has used the practice, specifically during a 2007 broadcast of Iron Chef America. You be the judge:
A Food Network spokesperson claims the one-frame McDonald’s logo was just a glitch, but critics aren’t so sure.
It can’t be a coincidence: in the 1943 Merrie Melodies cartoon “Wise Quacking Duck,” Daffy is shown spinning a coin, which for one frame, on one side of the coin, reads “BUY BONDS.” (YouTube examples were available until recently, but were taken down recently.)
The film Fight Club features several subliminal flashes of the Tyler Durden character before he actually shows up; as he’s an imaginary character, it’s only fitting. In Tyler’s job as a projectionist, he claims to insert pornographic subliminals into the films he shows, and sure enough, right before the end of the movie there’s a prominent flash of a penis.
The jury is still out on how much effect subliminal messages, be they visual or aural, have on the human mind. Can a 1/24th of a second image make you want to buy popcorn? Can a Judas Priest song played backwards make you want to worship Satan? What do you think?
Hey, it worked on “Saved by the Bell”!
“Za-ack, Za-ack, Za-ack!”
posted by Emily on 6-25-2008 at 11:14 am
On the one hand I can see how they could be effective if someone is very susceptible to suggestion, however I don’t think its nearly as strong an urge as people make it out to be. I mean, if an add blatantly says “Buy This!” on a cover for something, I’m not going to purchase it based on the words. So I don’t see how having far less time to see the image makes it more effective.
posted by Josiah on 6-25-2008 at 11:45 am
I agree with Josiah. If someone is already hankering salty-fried goodness, perhaps that McDonald’s thing would work on them (though really, would you be hungry for a McD’s burger after watching pro chefs cooking?). But in theory it might work. For stubborn people like me, however, no amount of subliminal messaging for McD’s will talk me into buying anything from there.
posted by nutmeag on 6-25-2008 at 12:35 pm
I don’t know much about subliminal messaging, but one sentence in the article stood out to me:
“(YouTube examples were available until recently, but were taken down recently.)”
It just sounds a little redundant =P
posted by Nick on 6-25-2008 at 1:04 pm
While at Tulane Univ in 1981 Dr Wilson Byran Key gave a lecture about subliminal advertising. He had examples of Skulls in ice of liquor ads, donkeys having sex in the clams of a Howard Johnson’s clam roll ad, and one of the most famous one…the word sex in Farrah Fawcett’s hair in her famous poster.
posted by Robert on 6-25-2008 at 1:27 pm
All it does is piss me off. It’s deceitful, really, and a little scary that big corporations so easily take to the idea of influencing you on a psychological level. I realize that’s the purpose of all advertising, but big honking billboards and 30 second spots aren’t as sneaky.
Oh, but Fight Club’s penises were just hilarious.
posted by sara on 6-25-2008 at 1:30 pm
There is a semantics problem with subliminal ads. If they are truly below the threshold of perception, then we wouldn’t be aware of them. Then again, I suppose “near-liminal” would be an awkward term.
posted by Miss Cellania on 6-25-2008 at 3:19 pm
Actually, I remember studying these in psychology in high school. Studies have proven that subliminal messages work in controlled laboratory environments but fail miserably in the real world. One great example was a movie theater that flashed “BUY POPCORN” to movie viewers. They had absolutely no change in popcorn sales.
posted by Jenne on 6-25-2008 at 3:29 pm
i actually saw the fabled “hungry? eat popcorn” one evening at home. they say these things are more noticable in a relaxed state, and i don’t think i could have been more relaxed, lying on my couch with a glass of wine, watching an old movie. sure enough, it popped up, plain as day. black and white, square letters.
posted by mr. p on 6-25-2008 at 3:50 pm
During the movie Sunshine, they show flashes of the doomed crew. It was creepy.
posted by Anna on 6-25-2008 at 11:00 pm
I gotta tell ya, that Judas Priest song did it for me. Worshipping Satan, that is.
posted by Mike on 6-26-2008 at 2:37 am
I feel a strange compulsion to buy Bob Mould records.
posted by Mikey D on 6-26-2008 at 5:29 am
Back in high school, in the late 70’s, we looked at subliminal messages in advertising. We went through some fashion magazines looking closely at the faces of models, into ice cubes in liquor ads, etc. What we found were small, partly disguised, but very clear words; and occasional pictures-within-pictures. Many of the words, particularly on models’ faces, were obscenities that wouldn’t have otherwise been printed in the magazine.
posted by Andy on 6-26-2008 at 7:15 am
…no, but a Judas Priest song played forwards makes me want to hang myself! :-P
posted by Simon on 6-26-2008 at 7:44 am
Glad I wasn’t the only one with the Husker Du/Sugar compulsion!! I gotta gets me some Bob Mould immediately!
posted by Julie on 6-26-2008 at 11:02 am