Subliminial messages
Subliminial messages"People are exposed to some subliminal stimuli at all times throughout life"
(Koponen, 97). A subliminal message is an insufficiently intense message used to produce a discrete sensation by influencing one's mental process or behavior. "Subliminal stimuli range from those just below threshold to those that are infinitely weak" (Koponen, 97). The theory that human behavior can be controlled by messages that bypass conscious perception and operate directly on the unconscious mind in freighting.
"Though subliminals still scare many, they are sometimes marketed as a desirable means of contacting and tinkering with the subconscious" (www.subl.survives). Advertisers widely and frequently use subliminal messages because they find them successful in selling products. Then there are those advertisers who do not even use the method, nor believe in it.
"Some are convinced that subliminal advertising is, like the unicorn, a mythical beast" (Clark, 118). When selling an adequate enough product, there is no reason to us the messages. "You can't make someone bark like a dog unless they want to" (interview). The use of subliminal messages by anyone is a, "secret attempt to manipulate one's mind" (www.subl.survives).
As people in the United States struggled to make sense of a rapidly changing world, a controversial breakthrough in broadcast technology called subliminal projection index through the roof (www.hiddenPer). A very serious problem has developed. The reaction of the public to having subliminal advertising thrust upon them. Enough people were spooked by the prospect of subliminals invading their minds that it was only a matter of time before the nations leaders would be forced to grabble with the issue (www.hiddenPer).
Subliminal stimuli have been regularly used in the North American media for over twenty-five years without anyone getting wise to what was occurring. "Advertising firms produced the psychology of buying so thoroughly that they now knew exactly what made consumers tick" (Schudson, 88). The actual term 'subliminal advertising' dates back, only to the 1950's and was coined by an American market researcher, James Vicary. He claimed that he had "…discovered a way to reach people subliminally, by flashing advertising messages on a screen so briefly that although they weren't seen consciously they made the viewers do as suggested" (Clark, 119). Many people reacted skeptically when first hearing of the technique, asking, "what's the point of an ad you can't see?" (www.hiddenPer). Vicary then conducted a six week test run at a theater in Fort Lee, New Jersey, that caused a noticeable increase in concession sales. The messages " Eat popcorn" and "Drink Coke" blipped on the screen every five seconds throughout the feature films, appearing so briefly that the viewers did not consciously perceive them. The result of using the subliminals were the increased sales of Cola by eight-teen percent and of popcorn by fifty-eight percent. His Fort Lee subliminal projection test have become...
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