Someone was just telling me that malls use to use hidden messages that say ''buy,buy'' so people will buy stuff stuff.But later the goverment found out and they told the malls to stop doing that.

You mean... commercials?

no.you know like that music that they have in stores.

You mean like the piped music that they play in supermarkets? I think people just got pissed off with the crappy electronic organ notes......that never end....and is even worse at christmas time.

yeah but is the story they told me is true?

You are talking about subliminal advertising, which are images or messages played at a speed which renders them imperceptible to the conscious mind, but not the the subconscious. When they were first discovered, the idea was so frightening that the government did indeed put regulations in place to limit subliminal advertising.

However, as was found several months after the study was released, the whole experiment was a fraud. The researcher, desperate to justify the expenses he had incurred, falsified his data. He confessed that the subliminal effect, while existant, did not show any sign of influencing conscious decision-making abilities.

Incidentally, it was never in malls. It was in one drive-in movie where the study was conducted, with the messages to drink coke and eat popcorn. The government ban was on subliminal advertising in media only, not entertainment.

oh, I didn't know they were used in one drive in movies.thanks fo the information Aquatus1!

How can you be sure that subliminal messeges aren't still being used?

For starters, they are illegal. This means that anybody using them is going to have to go through great lengths to keep it hidden, and considering how many people are involved in the editing of a movie or commercial, that's a lot of people that have to keep their traps shut.

Secondly, and to my mind, more importantly, subliminal messages simply do not have any effect. At most, studies have shown the mind to be capable of subconsciously perceiving the message, but in no way did this perception translate into any sort of action. Product placement in movies has been shown to be far more productive, and legal besides. Why hide a Coke in 1/10th of a frame when you can have Brad Pitt sipping away at it?

there just cool

On closer inspection of earthygirls post .....
HowB canuyouybea sureHthatosubliminalt messegesdaren'to stillg being used?

Absolutely ridiculous. Subliminal messages simply do not, have not, and never will work!


Now, if you'll excuse me, I seem to have the munchies for some reason.

I agree with aquatus1, they will never work. I'd just like to add that alsations are not flame proof.

Subliminal messages may or may not work in practice...But somebody considered it serious enough to BAN them from audio/visual advertising.

vimjams

And in Florida, somebody thought a law that forbid people from tying alligators to fire hydrants was necessary.

The reason the ban was put in place was based solely on the study that was eventually shown to be false. It was a somewhat hysterical knee-jerk reaction done at a time when paranoia was at its peak and evil, anti-American agents hid around every corner.

they still use them. Britney spears used one in her Baby one more time video.
http://www.ebaumsworld.com/britneysubliminal.html
that is where it is
the subliminal message of BS
quite interesting, if you think. they were banned and perhaps she still uses them.
oh well
ive always hated Britney Spears...

Sooo funny!

Freaking hilarious, and then right below, Aquatus is like..."excuse me, i have the munchies" hahahahaha

Just because subliminal messages are illegal doesn't mean that they are not being used on TV. It does explain how some people can love G. Brish

Who's that? George Bush? I agree

I could do with a Hot dog????????

Did anyone see a US election where the word "rats" appeared on the TV screen?


I think you're only talking about one type of subliminal meesaging. There are thought to be many other ways to make messages enter your subconscious to somehow alter it. One way is to modulate the frequency to about 16Hz, but as you said, people are subconsciously aware of the messages but don't seem to repsond to them so maybe it's the same with all types of subliminal messages. I don't think we can really prove that they don't work, though.

No, science really doesn't exist to prove things wrong. It can, however, show that there is no statistically significant difference between people exposed to subliminal messages and people who were not, in the context of their preference of one item over another.