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A subliminal message is a signal or message designed to pass below the normal limits of perception. For example it might be inaudible to the conscious mind (but audible to the subconscious or deeper mind) or might be an image transmitted briefly and unperceived consciously and yet perceived unconsciously. In the everyday world, some have claimed that subliminal techniques are used in advertising and propaganda.

Origin of the term

The term subliminal message was popularized in a 1957 book entitled The Hidden Persuaders by Vance Packard. This book included results from a study of a theater that supposedly flashed subliminal messages during a movie to increase the sales of popcorn and Coca-Cola at their concession stands. However, the author of the study, James Vicary, later admitted the study was fabricated.

In 1973, Wilson Bryan Key's book Subliminal Seduction claimed that subliminal techniques were in wide use in advertising. The book contributed to a general climate of fear with regard to Orwellian dangers of subliminal messaging. Public concern was enough to lead the Federal Communications Commission to hold hearings and to declare subliminal advertising "contrary to the public interest".

Validity

In spite of the popular belief that subliminal messages are widely used to influence audiences, there is little evidence that the technique has ever been used on a mass audience (other than its occasional use by artists who use it to make an artistic statement). While there is some evidence that subliminal messages can affect the observer^{[citation needed]}, the current consensus among marketing professionals is that subliminal advertising is ineffective and can be counter-productive^{[citation needed]}. The theory underlying subliminal messages is often considered to be pseudoscience, not psychology, and numerous scientific studies have concluded that subliminal advertising simply doesn't work^{[citation needed]}. However, the concept of subliminal messages is still popular among conspiracy theorists, and many people are familiar with the term.

As to the question of whether subliminal messages are widely used to influence groups of people e.g. audiences, no clear evidence supports that any serious attempt has been made to use the technique on a mass audience, other than as practical jokes on the part of an artist or designer. The current consensus among marketing professionals is that subliminal advertising is counter-productive because:

it is unethical
it is ineffective, and
even if it were effective, it would be a public relations disaster if its use was discovered.

Effectiveness

Subliminal perception or cognition, can be considered a subset of unconscious cognition where the forms of unconscious cognition also include attending to one signal in a noisy environment while unconsciously keeping track of other signals (e.g. one voice out of many in a crowded room) and tasks done automatically.

An important question about subliminal perception is: How much of the unattended or unconscious signal or message is perceived? That is, is the whole message sensed and fully digested or perhaps only its main and simpler features? There are at least two schools of thought about this. One of them argues that only the simpler features of unconscious signals could be perceived. The second school of thought argues that unconscious cognition is comprehensive and that much more is perceived than can be verbalized.

Various types of studies of subliminal perception have been conducted. The findings of recent studies demonstrate that subliminal stimuli can influence behavior and subsequent perceptions but it is as yet unclear how these results may generalize to real world settings. A related field is the question of whether anaesthetized patients are completely unaware whilst apparently completely asleep/unconscious.

Proponents of the power of subliminal messages claim they gain influence or power from the fact that they circumvent the critical functions of the conscious mind, and therefore subliminal suggestions are potentially more powerful than ordinary suggestions. This route to influence or persuasion would be akin to auto-suggestion or hypnosis wherein the subject is encouraged to be (or somehow induced to be) relaxed so that suggestions are directed to deeper (more gullible) parts of the mind; some observers have argued that the unconscious mind is incapable of critical refusal of hypnotic or subliminal suggestions.

Research findings do not support the conclusion that subliminal suggestions are peculiarly powerful, or even have any effect at all. However, some olfactory subliminal messages might work, be it in advertising, be it otherwise.

Mechanism

A form of subliminal messaging commonly believed to exist involves the insertion of "hidden" messages into movies and TV programs.

Instances

Before the reelection of French president Francois Mitterand in 1988, a subliminal picture of him was mixed in the title sequence of French national television daily news show, and it appeared for several consecutive days.

During the 2000 U.S. presidential campaign, a television ad campaigning for Republican candidate George W. Bush showed words (and parts thereof) scaling from the foreground to the background on a television screen. When the word BUREAUCRATS flashed on the screen, one frame showed only the last part, RATS. Democrats promptly asked the FCC to look into the matter, but no penalties were ever assessed in the case. The effect this had on the overall presidential race was unclear. The Democrats and Al Gore received ridicule for finding malicious intent in something that could have been a simple mistake; the Republicans received ridicule for the lack of attention to detail and Bush's mispronunciation of "subliminal" (it came out as "subliminable").

Another use instance of subliminal advertising revolves around commercials for the game Hūsker Dū? which flashed the message 'Get it', in the United States and Canada, prompting a furor.

Some conservative groups have made occasional claims that subliminal messages can be found in various forms of popular entertainment such as the supposed use of "backward messages" in rock and roll songs. Conservative activist Donald Wildmon has claimed that The Walt Disney Company inserted the word "SEX" into the clouds in a scene in animated film The Lion King. According to Disney, however, the frame in question actually reads "SFX", a common abbreviation for "special effects", and was a signature by the effects animation team for their work. The lettering is ambiguous but apparently supports Disney's claim.

PETCO Park, the home of the San Diego Padres, PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) is also the scene of a running battle with PETCO, a pet food retailer in San Diego, for several years regarding the purported mistreatment of live animals at PETCO stores. When the Padres announced that PETCO (which is based in San Diego) had obtained naming rights to PETCO Park, PETA was unable to pursuade the Padres to terminate the agreement. Hence PETA used subliminal advertising in the form of an acrostic. It successfully purchased a brick with what appears on the surface to be a complimentary message: "Break Open Your Cold Ones! Toast The Padres! Enjoy This Championship Organization!" However, if one takes the first letters of each word, the resulting acrostic reads "BOYCOTT PETCO". Neither PETCO nor the Padres have taken any action to remove the brick, stating that if someone walked by, they would not know it had anything to do with the PETA/PETCO feud.

As a joke, the creators of Beavis and Butt-Head inserted an obvious subliminal message with the twosome headbanging to the words "Nachos Rule", in flashing light.

External links

References

Subliminal Perception: The nature of a controversy, N.F.Dixon, McGraw-Hill, New York, 1971.
Psychological Investigations of Unconscious Perception, Journal of Consciousness Studies, P.M Merikle and M. Daneman, 1998.
New Look 3: Unconscious Cognition Reclaimed, American Psychologist, 47, Anthony W. Greenwald, 1992.
Holender, D. (1986). Semantic activation without conscious identification in dichotic listening, parafoveal vision, and visual masking: A survey and appraisal. Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 9, 1-23.
Seitz and Watanabe. (2003). Is subliminal learning really passive. Nature, 422, 36.
The Beetles. (1968-1974) Paul Alhambra High

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