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Subliminal stimuli

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A subliminal message is a signal or message designed to pass below the normal limits of perception. These messages are indiscernible to the conscious mind, but are alleged to be perceptible to the subconscious or deeper mind: for example, an image transmitted so briefly that it is only perceived unconsciously, but not otherwise noticed. Subliminal techniques have occasionally been used in advertising and propaganda; whether they are anything more than a rarity is debated.

History

The term subliminal message was popularized in 1917, before the World War I draft in America. However, the term at the time referred to messages that were noticeable if looked for, but were designed to be noticed only by the subconscious.

World War I government poster by Howard Chandler Christy

Louis DelSignore and Emma Joyet of St. Lawrence University allege that government recruiting posters in World War I contained subliminal visual messages designed to encourage enlistment. In the 1917 "Gee!! I Wish I Were A Man" Navy recruiting poster by Howard Chandler Christy, the "Christy Girl" is shown standing with clenched fists, with her cleavage nearly exposed. DelSignore and Joyet suggest that these two features appeal to men's masculinity and sexuality.[1]

James Vicary, a market researcher, claimed in 1957 that quickly flashing messages such as "drink Coca-Cola" and "eat popcorn" on a movie screen had influenced people to purchase more food and drink. This led to a public outcry and many conspiracy theories of governments and cults using the technique to their advantage. The practice was subsequently banned in the United Kingdom, Australia and the United States, although efforts to replicate the results of Vicary's reports have never resulted in success. In 1962, Vicary admitted that he fabricated his claim (Boese 2002:137-38).

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

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.

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 suggested that the unconscious mind is incapable of critical refusal of hypnotic or subliminal suggestions.

However, critics of the theory have suggested that the effect of subliminal messages would at best be no more than that of a glimpse of a billboard in the corner of an eye.

Instances

In 1978, Wichita, Kansas TV station KAKE-TV received special permission from the police to place a subliminal message in a report on the BTK Killer in an effort to get him to turn himself in. The image, which appeared for a split second, showed a pair of glasses (an image thought to hold significance to him) and text that read "Now call the chief." [1] The attempt was unsuccessful, and police reported no increased volume of calls afterward; though the killer was eventually caught in 2005.

Before the re-election of French president François Mitterrand 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 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.

In 1982, Mark Lindsey, a graduate of Virginia Tech submitted an entry for an addition to be built to the University of Virginia's football stadium. Lindsey realized that the stadium was in the shape of a "v" and promptly designed the new addition in the shape of the letter "t" to make the logo of the Virginia Tech Hokies. UVA officials were unaware that the design was a tribute to their in-state rival and picked Lindsey's plan. The addition was built in 1985 but replaced in 1999 after UVA officials discovered Lindsey's message.

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 persuade 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.

Recently found in the Vancover Film fesival, artist Stanley Moonaky has given in and told all that every minute and eleven seconds "Eat Beef" is quickly splashed across the screen of his underground documentary "Vegetarians for Less".

Allegations

Some groups have made 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. Many of these purported messages are Satanic; for example, if the Led Zeppelin song "Stairway to Heaven" is played backwards, lyrics including "Oh here's to my sweet Satan" can supposedly be made out. Queen's "Another One Bites The Dust" is also supposed to contain a pro-marijuana message: "It's fun to smoke marijuana". These two messages have not been confirmed by the artists, and have not been proven to exist. In contrast, some obvious Satanic messages can be and have been backmasked into rock songs, although parody messages and artistic backmasking are more common. See the list of backmasked messages.

An internet-based prank flash called "Subliminal Messages" or "Subliminal Music and Images" features two supposed visual messages and an audio message. The first is the word "SEX" hidden in a gin advertisement. The second is a woman masturbating, hidden in an advertisement for a flooring company. The animation then switches to the text of the Lord's Prayer, and starts playing Cradle of Filth's "Dinner at Deviant Palace" backward, along with faint noises. In the middle of the song, a loud scream is heard, and a series of disturbing images is flashed. The last image is a gray scale image of a mummy without wrappings, which fades away, followed by a message, "Never trust flash animations talking about subliminal stuff!"

Another such prank features the song "Jingle Bells," playing the song forward and backwards, claiming there is a hidden message in the backwards version. Half way through the song, a yellow (sometimes green) man appears on the screen flashing and screaming. A third one features a cinema to The Legend of Zelda. The video claims there is a subliminal message hidden by Nintendo at the point where Link throws down his shield. Because there is no message, the video played the spot again and pauses where Link throws his shield down. At the time where the viewers concentration is focused the highest, a man appears on the screen screaming.

Also, in a clip called "Carlos Mencia Pranks His Enemies". While the clip is comedic, it does not show any kind of Subliminal music or imagery. The video is just focusing on the standup, making the viewers leave their guard down. And, of course, during the middle of the show, a man named "Emanuel" appears on the screen screaming.

Backmasking, an audio technique in which sounds are recorded backwards onto a track that is meant to be played forwards, produces messages that sound like gibberish to the conscious mind. Gary Greenwald, a fundamentalist Christian preacher, claims that these messages can be heard subliminally, and can induce listeners towards, in the case of rock music, sex and drug use.[2] However, this is not generally accepted as fact.[3]

Embedded commands

In the field of Neuro-linguistic programming (NLP), "embedded commands" are used to (supposedly) bypass the conscious mind, directly affecting the subconscious [2]. Certain words emphasized in a sentence will supposedly cause the hearer to mentally connect those words, without realizing it. For example, hearing "Who KNOWS what will happen in this field of research? There could be an (h)ITCH NOW in one of the projects" spoken, with the capitalized words emphasized, allegedly causes a desire to scratch one's nose[3]. Ross Jeffries teaches this technique within the context of subliminal seduction.

Fictional references

While their ultimate efficacy is somewhat controversial, subliminal messages have a long history in television shows, movies, and novels.

In an episode of Family Guy, Peter becomes president of a cigarette company which uses commercials in which the character Jerry (an advertiser for the company) randomly pops in and says bluntly, "Smoke."

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.

Kevin Nealon appeared on Saturday Night Live as Mr. Subliminal or The Subliminal Man.

The movie "Fight Club" quickly flashes a picture of Tyler Durden twice at random points to indroduce the Character. The picture lasts long enough for the viewer to notice it, but not make out any features. At one point, the character (Tyler) mentions slipping subliminal pictures of a mans penis into childrens movies. Throughout the movie, pictures of a penis rapidly appear and dissapear scene shifts, most noticibly at the transition between the final scene and the credits

The movie Josie and the Pussycats described a long lasting plot whereby the US government was controlling trends by inserting subliminal messages in popular music. Furthermore, towards the end of the film, a government agent shuts down the operation, saying that subliminal advertising works better in films. The words "Josie and the Pussycats is the best movie ever" are then spoken rapidly in voice-over and displayed quickly onscreen. Also, there are literally hundreds of product placement shots throughout the film, also related to that joke.

The plot of the movie They Live revolves around a man accidentally acquiring a pair of sunglasses which allow the wearer to see subliminal messages in billboards, magazines, and even money.

An episode of the The Simpsons involved Bart and his friends joining a boy band, the Party Posse. While watching a video for the Party Posse, Lisa notices the phrase "Yvan Eht Nioj" being repeated continuously by belly-dancers. She plays the video in reverse and finds that it means "Join the Navy". Also, an Uncle Sam "I Want You" poster can be seen in the video frame by frame. The joke was that the United States sends subliminal messages in order to recruit people. In addition, the art of "superliminal messages" was demonstrated to Lisa; a Navy representative leans out a window, picks a random passerby, and shouts "Hey you! Join the Navy!"

In an episode of Malcolm in the Middle titled Reese joins the Army (2), one of the Drill Sergeants comments that "...the subliminal messages are working!" Another Drill Sergeant then asks "What subliminal messages...?" Not too different from the joke in The Simpsons episode mentioned above, this episode was a joking reference to the low military recruiting numbers in 2004 suggesting that the US military uses such things in a tactic of desperation.

In Father Ted, in the episode Are You Right There, Father Ted? the lead character is accused of being a racist and attempts to clear his name by inviting representatives of the local ethnic minorities to a presentation, during which slides saying FATHER TED CRILLY, NOT A RACIST can be seen quite deliberately flashing up.

In an episode of Babylon 5, during a scene which represents a public service announcement for Psi Corps, the words "TRUST THE CORPS" and "THE CORPS IS YOUR FRIEND" appear on screen for four frames, double the length of what the FCC designated as subliminal.

In the British alternative comedy show "The Young Ones", a number of subliminal images were present in the original and repeated broadcasts. Images included a gull coming into land, a tree frog jumping through the air, and the end credits of the movie "Carry On Cowboy". No explanation for these images was given and their relevance, if any, to the plot of the episodes in which they appear is debatable. The images did not appear in the US boxset DVD "Every Stoopid Episode", as they fall foul of the FCC guidelines.

In the Clone High episode Raisin the Stakes: A Rock Opera in Three Acts, many subliminal messages can be noticed with casual viewing.

In the Aqua Teen Hunger Force episode "MC Pee Pants", Meatwad was listening to a song by MC Pee Pants called "I Want Candy". When he played it backwards with Carl, they heard stuff about destroying the world and releasing demons.

In Neuromancer, a gang called the Panther Moderns uses subliminal images to fool police departments and public security agencys into thinking that an extremely dangerous psychoactive agent had been released into the ventilation of a Sense/Net building.

In the 2005 Sci-Fi movie "Serenity," the Alliance uses subliminal messages broadly disseminated in commercials and other video to cause River Tam to go berserk. It only works on River because she was subjected to Alliance training and conditioning.

In 1976, Dean Koontz wrote a book entitled Night Chills. The main character, along with his 2 children return to the small town of Black Rock for a vacation and to also get over the death of his wife. But the town has been selected for an experiment in mind control through the use of subliminal messaging by exmilitary and corporate fanatics. The hapless town's folk are unaware that their minds can be controlled at will by a sadistic scientist who is out for revenge, especially on women, whom he both adores and loathes at the same time. The only clue the main character has is that the towns folk all get night chills. What is interesting about this book is that Dean Koontz actually did research with assistance from PHD scientists to enhance the reality of it.

In the children's TV show The Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy, it is rumored that in the credits a faint voice can be heard saying "Eat your vegetables". But nothing has been proven.

See also

References

  1. ^ DelSignore, Louis. "Women and War". St. Lawrence University. Retrieved 2006-07-05. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
  2. ^ Vokey, John R. (2002). "Subliminal Messages". [people.uleth.ca/~vokey/pdf/Submess.pdf Psychological Sketches] (PDF) (6th edition ed.). Lethbridge, Alberta: Psyence Ink. pp. 223–246. Retrieved 2006-07-05. {{cite book}}: |edition= has extra text (help); Check |url= value (help); Unknown parameter |editors= ignored (|editor= suggested) (help)
  3. ^ Robinson, B.A. "Backmasking on records: Real, or hoax?". Retrieved 2006-07-04.
  • 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.
  • Alex Boese (2002). The Museum of Hoaxes: A Collection of Pranks, Stunts, Deceptions, and Other Wonderful Stories Contrived for the Public from the Middle Ages to the New Millennium, E. P. Dutton, ISBN 0-525-94678-0
  • 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.
  • Timothy E. Moore. (1992). "Subliminal Perception: Facts and Fallacies", Skeptical Inquirer, vol 16, #3 (Spring 1992), 273-81. Reprinted in Encounters with the Paranormal: Science, Knowledge, and Belief, edited by Kendrick Frazier, Prometheus Books, 1998, 253-63. ISBN 1-57392-203-X
  • Anthony R. Pratkanis. (1992). "Myths of Subliminal Persuasion: The Cargo-cult Science of Subliminal Persuasion", Skeptical Inquirer, vol 16, #3 (Spring 1992), 260-72. Reprinted in Encounters with the Paranormal: Science, Knowledge, and Belief, edited by Kendrick Frazier, Prometheus Books, 1998, 240-52. Timothy E. Moore and Anthony R. Pratkanis (1998). "An Update on Subliminal Influence", Encounters with the Paranormal: Science, Knowledge, and Belief, edited by Kendrick Frazier, Prometheus Books, 1998, 262-63. ISBN 1-57392-203-X

Further reading

  • Alex Boese, (2006). Hippo Eats Dwarf: A Field Guide to Hoaxes and Other B.S.'', Harcourt, Inc, ISBN 0-15-603083-7, 193-95
  • Dean Koontz: False Memory, ISBN 0-7472-2057-3
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