Subliminal Messages in the Media

1
Subliminal Messages in the Media

• Group 3
• Eliza Elmo
• Robert Youssef
• Alfonso Arante
• Chinediou Ikpechukwu
• Shekar Mistry

October 3, 2006 ENG 352 001 Technical
Writing Dr. James Lipuma
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The Mind and Subliminal Messages

• Subliminal- below the liminal or limen of
  consciousness
• Subjective Threshold- level at which information
  can be guessed is present
• Objective threshold- level at which information
  that is present cannot be perceived
• Subconscious cognition- message cannot be
  interpreted by conscious mind
• Unconscious cognition- multiple messages
  perceived at the same time

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History of Subliminal Messages

• Used by Greeks
• 1900- Knight Dunlap- Professor of Psychology-
  conducted experiment using Mueller-Lyer Illusion
• Whisper Therapy introduced
• James Vicary- market researcher- 1956-
  conducted movie theater experiment
• Wilson Bryan Key professor of psychology at
  University of Western Ontario- wrote two books
• a) Subliminal Seduction (1973)
• b) The Clam Plate Orgy (1980)

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What is a Subliminal Message

• An attack of the subconscious mind
• Message that is inadequate to produce a sensation
  or perception but has the ability to influence
  actions and behaviors
• Subliminal Persuasion- use of hidden,
  imperceptible or masked stimuli to manipulate
  viewers or listeners to behave in ways they
  usually would not

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Mediums of Sending Subliminal Messages

• There are 3 main types
• Written
• Visual
• Audio

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The Written

• Flashing words very quickly.
• Below the viewers threshold of conscious
  perceptibility
• Words usually short and concise
• Quick Nugget James Vicary 1957 performs
  experiment and flashes the words Eat Popcorn
  Buy Coke at 1/3000th of a second several times.

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The Visual

• Images Within Images
• Manipulating the shapes or Embedding Other shapes
• Usually relating to Sex, Power, Death
• Quick Nugget

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The Audio

• Baskmasking
• Sounds are recorded backwards to be played
  forwards
• Sending Messages at Very Low Volumes in
  Background music
• Found in Rock music, Self Help Tapes
• Quick Nugget Another One Bites the Dust

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Legal Issues and Ethics

• FCC (Federal Communications Commission)
  "Subliminal Programming. The FCC sometimes
  receives complaints regarding the alleged use of
  subliminal techniques in radio and television
  programming. Subliminal programming is designed
  to be perceived on a subconscious level only. The
  Commission has held that the use of subliminal
  perception is inconsistent with the obligations
  of a licensee and contrary to the public interest
  because, whether effective or not, such
  broadcasts are intended to be deceptive." (39
  Federal Register 3714, January 29, 1974)
• Subliminal messages cannot always be identified,
  and therefore are difficult or sometimes
  impossible to prosecute.
• This law was enacted due to a toy commercial
  aired in 1974 said to flash the phrase Get It
  multiple times throughout the ad.
• Broadcasters are not required to screen ads for
  subliminal messages, but are required to stop
  airing them once a subliminal message is brought
  to their attention. In other words, there is no
  system to filter out deceptive advertisements and
  said ads are only taken off the air if someone
  catches them and brings this to the broadcasters
  attention.

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Legal Issues and Ethics (cont.)

• FTC (Federal Trade Commission) Currently holds
  similar regulations with regard to highway
  billboards. According to them, passing an ad at
  60 m.p.h. has the same effect as watching a
  subliminal message from your television. Their
  guidelines for identifying a subliminal messages
  are as follows
• (1) there is a representation, omission, act or
  practice that is
• (2) likely to mislead consumers acting reasonably
  under the circumstances, and
• (3) the representation, omission, or practice is
  "material."
• So who still uses subliminal messages today?
  These national committees have outlawed any
  public usage of intentional subliminal messages,
  but they can still legally be found in
  motivational and computer programs. That is
  not to say that they do or do not exist anywhere
  in American mass media.
• Example President G. W. Bush was accused of
  having the word RATS momentarily across the
  bottom of one of his ad campaigns for 1/30th of a
  second featuring a criticism of V.P. Al Gores
  Prescription Plan. The commercial was taken off
  the air after being shown over 4,400 times
  nationally. There was no other legal action
  taken.

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Legal Issues and Ethics (cont.)

• The deliberate use of messages meant only for the
  subconscious mind, as opposed to the conscious
  mind, is illegal for the sole reason that they
  are meant to be deceptive according to the FCC.
• The FTC (Federal Trade Commission) was put in
  place to monitor deceptive advertising, but the
  First Amendment does not allow the government to
  influence advertising in general.
• What happens to advertisers when they do not
  follow the FTC regulations?
• a Cease and Desist Order, forcing the advertiser
  to discontinue their ad
• an Affirmative Disclosure Order, forcing the
  advertiser alter the ad to include more truthful
  information about their product
• a Corrective Advertisement, this is airing
  another commercial which forces them to correct
  the deceptions in previous commercials

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Effectiveness
or Lack

• Of Subliminal Messaging

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Subliminal perception

• If you can read this

• How much of the message is perceived?
• Two notions of subliminal perception
• Simpler features of unconscious signals could be
  perceived
• Unconscious cognition is comprehensive much more
  is perceived than can be verbalized
• Auto-suggestion or hypnosis

• you are paying too much attention

• to the powerpoint slide

• So stop staring

• and start listening

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Uses

• Mis

• Think Thin

• Say Banana-patch

• The self help market
• Neuro-linguistic Programming (NLP)
• Example "Who KNOWS what will happen in this
  field of research? There could be an (h)ITCH NOW
  in one of the projects
• NLP can also apply to visuals as well

• Scratch Now

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Validity

• Nada, zip, zero

• Not enough evidence
• Ineffective and can be counter-productive.
• Subliminal messages considered as pseudoscience.
• Popular among conspiracy theorists
• Over-hyped by the media

Please dont sue us

• Just like cow tipping

• Don your tin foil cap

• Dont believe the hype

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Works Cited

• http//usgovinfo.about.com/library/news/aa091400b.
  htm
• www.valdosta.edu/asantas/Business/decept.html
• http//images.google.com/imgres?imgurlhttp//www.
  classroomtools.com/subad11a.jpgimgrefurlhttp//w
  ww.classroomtools.com/sublimad.htmh268w200sz
  10hlenstart3tbnidC0pP35wBJFf_wMtbnh113tb
  nw84prev/images3Fq3Dsubliminal2Bmessages26s
  vnum3D1026hl3Den26lr3D26sa3DG
• http//en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Subliminal_message
• www.csicop.org/si/9204/subliminal-perception.html
• www.snopes.com/business/hidden/
• www.syria.com

Questions?