“We have shown that people can perceive the emotional value of subliminal messages and have demonstrated conclusively that people are much more attuned to negative words.” “There has been much speculation about whether people can process emotional information unconsciously, for example pictures, faces and words,” Professor Nilli Lavie, who led the study, said. Likely, this is due to evolution and humans being quicker to respond to danger signals, researchers found. One study found that subliminal messaging worked, but is most effective when the message being conveyed is negative. However, with searches around subliminal messaging up by more than 100% in the past 12 months alone, the idea seems to be having a renaissance of sorts. In a nutshell, the jury is still out on this one. It stated, “whether effective or not, were contrary to public interest, and that any station employing subliminal messages risked losing its broadcast license”. So much so that in 1974, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) banned subliminal advertising from radio and television broadcasting. While some remained sceptical over whether the techniques were as effective as Vicary claimed, the concept took hold. Vicary later claimed the messaging had lead to a 18.1% increase in Coca-Cola sales and a 57.8% jump in popcorn purchases. Perception is the way that our brains process that information. Sensation is the process of experiencing our environment through touch, taste, sound, sight, and smell. A message that has an influence on a persons subconscious is different from a subliminal one.

Understanding Sensation and Perception Sensation and perception are related. The term subliminal often misinterpreted.

That same year, James Vicary conducted a study during film screenings with words such as ‘Drink Coca-Cola’ and ‘Hungry? Eat popcorn!’ flashing across the screen for 1/3000th of a second (below the threshold of conscious perception) every five seconds. A subliminal message falls below the absolute threshold of one person or a group of people. The Hidden Persuaders by Vance Packard introduced the idea of advertisers using subconscious messaging to influence consumers. Where does the idea of subliminal messaging come from?

Subliminal message definition