Subliminal advertising refers to messages embedded in media that affect the subconscious mind, influencing behaviors and attitudes without conscious awareness. The concept has a history dating back to the late 19th century, but it gained notoriety from James Vicary's discredited 1957 study, which claimed subliminal messages could boost product sales. Despite the ban on subliminal advertising in several countries, modern research suggests that such messages could still impact the brain, though their effectiveness remains debated.

1. Commercials & The Power Of Subliminal
Advertising
Are there such things as subliminal messages? If there are, then what do they do? Have you ever
been influenced to do something by a subliminal message? Is it true that subliminal messages are
used in advertisements even though they have been banned for over 30 years?
The most common form of subliminal messages are as spoken commands that are used to affect
the mind at a subconscious level. The word "sub" is Latin and means anything that is underneath
or below. If you study the word submarine you can see where the use of the word "sub" is fitting
to the name - because it operates underneath the ocean. In the word "subliminal" the second part
is also taken from a Latin word - the word "limen". This Latin word actually means threshold
and it is used to represent the threshold between two states of conscious. We can therefore
determine that the word "subliminal" is meant to imply something that is "beneath (or below) the
threshold of whisper messages".
Therefore subliminal messages are "messages that are delivered or accepted underneath the
threshold of normal consciousness. Subliminal messages are really just any kind of message that
is embedded in another medium so that they go unnoticed by the conscious mind.
It is believed that these messages can be either auditory or visual in nature. They can affect the
subconscious mind in a positive or negative way in such a way that they have an effect on later
behaviours, thoughts, feelings and attitudes. In fact any type of sustained exposure to subliminal
messages or subliminal programming can have a dramatic affect on a person's entire belief and
value systems.
The earliest study of the subject of subliminal messages dates back to 1898 when E.W. Scripture
published the paper The New Psychology. Although there have been many studies and
experiments with subliminal messages the most widely known is the case study by James Vicary.
Vicary's 1957 experiment, conducted in a movie theatre, was the first attempt at using subliminal
messages for advertising purposes.
He claimed that by flashing the words "eat popcorn" and "drink coke" sales of the two products
rose significantly amongst the movie-goers. His results were never duplicated regardless of many
attempts and in later years Vicary admitted that his findings were falsified.
However, the damage was already done and subliminal advertising had entered the public
psyche, were later outlawed from television and radio by several countries in 1973 and even
investigated by the CIA in 1958!
Although Vicary's experiment was a fraud modern research, using the latest technologies have
shown that subliminal messages can affect the brain. Scientists are still reluctant to confirm or
deny that these type of hidden commands can act as a means for controlling behaviour.

2. Take a look at some video sites such as YouTube or Google Videos and you will see videos that
contain a selection of subliminal advertisements.