We’re back with another edition of Urban Legend: Fact or Fiction. In this chapter, we are going to take a look at Hollywood’s alleged love affair with subliminal messages. So sit back and enjoy this mind-bending legend.
The Story
Did you know that movies are basically made to sell you a product nowadays? Filmmakers will just splice in stuff like “drink Coke” or “buy popcorn.” Just to get you to turn right around and do it without questioning why. I swear this world gets more like They Live everyday.
Variants
It’s not just the movies, oh no. These messages are strewn all through television, in ads, and in music. One of the most famous examples is the backmasking scare of the 1980s. Where bands like Judas Priest were accused of putting violent and satanic messaging in their music that could be heard if the record was played backwards.
The tale started with a study in 1957 by market researcher James Vicary. He claimed that during that summer, he experimented at a Ft. Lee, New Jersey movie theater by putting a tachistoscope next to the movie projector. During a showing of the film Picnic, the phrases “Drink Coca-Cola” and “Hungry? Eat Popcorn” would flash on screen for 1/3000th of a second. This is supposedly not enough time for the viewer to consciously perceive the message, but long enough for your deeper consciousness to process it. Vicray says he saw an 18.1% increase in Coca-Cola sales and a 57.8% jump in popcorn sales.
It wasn’t long before the entertainment industry took notice and started using the idea of subliminal advertising for other reasons.
Pop Culture
The first movie to knowingly employ subliminal messages was 1958’s My World Dies Screaming, directed by Harold Daniels, from a script by Robert C. Dennis. At various points in the film, images would flash to elicit different emotions, like a skull for terror, a snake for hate, two hearts for love, and the word “blood” flashing on screen for fear. The following year, Date with Death, directed by Harold Daniels, from a script by Robert C. Dennis, used the newly found Psychorama tactic.
One of the most famous examples is found in the 1960’s film Psycho. Director Alfred Hitchcock briefly superimposes an image of a skull on Norman Bates’ (Anthony Perkins) face right before the film fades to black.
In 1973’s The Exorcist, director William Friedkin has an image of actress Eileen Dietz in stark white makeup to look like a demon flash on screen throughout the film.
For 2002’s The Ring, director Gore Verbinski had frames from Samara’s (Daveigh Chase) terrifying short film flash through the actual movie.
2008’s Cloverfield kicked it up a notch when the film inserted images from 1933’s King Kong, 1954’s Them!, and 1958’s The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms. As a loving tribute to classic monster movies and this well-known urban legend.
Is it Real?
So here’s the thing: as you may have already guessed, Vicary’s numbers were bogus. He eventually admitted to that fact, but the damage was already done. Countless studies have tried to duplicate his results, and most haven’t shown any noticeable difference in buying behavior.
What most research has shown is that you can only nudge someone towards a particular brand if they are already inclined to buy. Say I’m already thirsty, flashing “drink Coke” MIGHT work on me, only if I already like Coke.
One study looked at buying patterns in a liquor store. It showed that patrons bought more German wine when German music was playing and more Italian wine when Italian music was playing. When asked why they made their particular beverage selection, most customers did not cite the music as a factor for their choice. Suggesting that while they could hear the music, they didn’t actively notice its possible influence.
You Can Lead a Horse to Water
But again, we are looking at an example where people were already actively looking to buy wine. The music just nudged them on what kind to buy. It’s not like they just mindlessly wandered in and bought something they didn’t want because music was playing.
There has also been no research to suggest that any subliminal messages in films have made them any scarier. Except maybe The Exorcist, which held one of its spliced-in images of Dietz a bit longer than the others. In this case, it’s more of a jump scare to have it randomly appear than it is to tell your subconscious to be scared. Think a slow psychological burn vs just jumping out and screaming “BOO!” in someone’s face. Both will scare you just in wildly different ways.
If flashing some words on screen worked at all, marketers would have been doing it the second Vicey’s “research” came out. While several countries have put laws in place to prevent the use of subliminal messages, most studies suggest they’re not really necessary. We know companies don’t think much of the general public, but we aren’t THAT easy to manipulate. Well, most of us anyway.
This urban legend is almost entirely:
