Subliminal messages are everywhere, or so
we've been told.
But does Nabisco really spell out sex in the brown splotches
on their delicious Ritz crackers to make us buy more of them,
or are the real crackers the people who buy into this theory?
In the seventies and early eighties, former advertising executive
Wilson Brian Key wrote several books filled with examples of
penises and vaginas embeddded in ice cubes, and subliminal
dirty words polluting toy advertisements aimed at kids. His claim
was that subliminal sexual references are often used in
advertising to play on our unconscious libido and influence our
buying preferences.
But while subliminal messages most definitly exist, some people
think books like Key's are making a mountain out of a molehill (or
a breast out of a meaningless blob), so to speak. Lane Hovac is
one such skeptic.
"I've seen a few books on the subject of subliminal advertising,
but I found these frustrating to say the least. Most contain
pictures of an ad with text that says, 'Look at the third ice cube
from the left. You'll notice a woman's breast if you squint and
hold the picture to your nose.'"
"Books like these seem to be created by subliminal conspiracy
freaks who see subliminal deviance in any advertisement they view,
whether real or imagined," Hovac says.
The business of subliminal messages originated in 1957 when James
Vicary thought he might try to boost the sales of movie theatre
snacks by flashing the words "Drink Coke" and "Eat Popcorn" on the
movie screen at a level below conscious perception. Afterwards, he
reported to the press that sales had indeed gone up by 58%, but
the fact is that no one has ever been able to reproduce his
results.
The January 1991 issue of The University of California, Berkeley,
Wellness Letter refers to "the complete lack of evidence any
scientific evidence that such messages can alter human behaviour."
But this hasn't stopped companies from using them.
James Hunt is a former advertising illustrator turned fine artist
who has first-hand evidence that subliminal messages do exist--he
used to put them there. He calls advertising a "filthy business"
and says that's why he got out of it.
"I don't think the companies go out looking for subliminal
advertisers the way Key does, nor do I think the subliminal ads
really work, but I do know that...they do exist and I'm willing
to bet that 1/8 of the ad execs out there are using them," he
says.
For the past several years, Nathan Holt of Athens, Georgia has
been on a crusade: to warn the world about the dangers of
subliminal messages, particularly the kind that can be found in
some songs when they are played backwards. He believes this
technique, known as "backmasking," can cause people to do things
they wouldn't otherwise do, therefore endangering their personal
health and safety, or at the very least, influencing them to buy
things they don't really need.
Holt says he had an experience of this kind when he bought a Phil
Collins album a few years ago.
"After many repeated listenings, I began to repeat words over and
over again more or less randomly. At first it was only under my
breath, then people began to notice. Soon after that I went
grocery shopping. When I went through the check-out line, the
cashier pulled a six-pack of Michelob out of the cart--I had no
recollection of putting it in there--I don't even drink! These
symptoms went away after I threw the album out."
While there is no evidence that Collins and Michelob were in a
partnership, or that Collins had intentionally recorded any
subliminal messages at all, backmasking has been used by other
musicians in the past. But as with all subliminal messages, there
is no scientific proof that they actually work, despite Holt's
personal convictions.
In the highly-publicized case against Judas Priest, in which the
band was acused of being guilty in the suicide deaths of two
teenagers who had allegedly acted upon subliminal messages in
their heavy-metal music, the band was found not guilty, not
because they didn't record the messages, but because the evidence
was so strong that subliminal messages don't work.
But Holt is convinced that he is right, and is sticking to his
convictions despite endless nasty e-mails, and a "Big Weenie"
award for having one of the "wurst" sites on the web, which he
has proudly displayed on his
website.
"I have resigned myself to the fact that people are unwilling to
examine this with an open mind," Holt says. "I think of it
(constant ridicule) as the price I have to pay for seeking the
truth."
This is a sample of backmasking.
Click here to
link to a backmasking website.
Whether or not subliminal messages actually work, the public's
belief in their effectiveness has spawned a $50-million industry
which may be completely based on false advertising. This is the
subliminal self-help tape industry which claims it can help you
lose weight, improve your sex life, and cure your phobias.
In reality, if these tapes do help at all, it is more likely due
to the "placebo effect," or of thinking it's going to help so it
does. But even if these tapes are the greatest rip-off going, at
least the consumer knows what he's subjecting himself to, as
opposed to being subjected to subliminal messages without being
aware of it, as is the case in advertising.
Holt says that it's the "insidious way it's done" that makes it
so much worse.
"No one knows how to defend themselves against it."
Presently, there are no rules regulating the use of subliminal
messages in advertising in Canada.
This Kent cigarette ad is one of
the more subtle examples of this
kind. In a Key analysis, the positioning of their skis, hands and
poles would all imply something sexual. For example, the fact that
the right ski of the man holding the cigarette is pointing upwards
towards the woman's genital area, would be a sign of virility
and potency. And the fact that this man is smoking Kent, and the
woman's ski pole is pointing towards him, would imply that if you
smoke Kent, you will be thought of as virile and potent, and hence
get all the babes.
The following are a few examples of how subliminal messages are
currently being used:
Recently, a guy named Bob Loblaw came across what he claims are
subliminal messages embedded in the clouds of the Windows 95
start-up screen. They include a
dark horse, a fornicating couple, and a likeness of Jimi Hendrix.
Loblaw explains his findings in precise detail on his
website
Even 
more recently,
a bit of a hullabaloo broke out when
Chuck Lorre, the executive producer of Dharma & Greg started
putting up "vanity cards"--a screen of small print which flashes
for a brief nanosecond--at the end of each episode, forcing those
who wished to read his words of wisdom to tape the show so they
could freeze-frame it. While his
messages are pretty banal and couldn't do much harm even
if they were registered by one's unconscious, his clever ploy will
undoubtedly attract more viewers to the show, if simply for the
novelty of it.