LinkNotes: The Power of Negative Subliminal Messages

2009-09-30

The Power of Negative Subliminal Messages

Negative subliminal messages work

People can perceive subliminal messages, particularly if the message is negative, according to a UK study.

In three experiments at University College London, participants were briefly shown masked words and asked to classify them as emotional or neutral.

clipped from www.independent.co.uk

Power of the hidden message revealed

Volunteers were shown a series of positive, negative and neutral words, such as "cheerful", "despair" or "box", for as little as 17 milliseconds – far too quick for the mind to perceive conventionally – and asked to decide whether or not each word had an emotional value.

Where the volunteers correctly identified a word as emotional – for example "flower", "peace", "agony" or "murder" – they were more efficient at picking out those with a negative meaning. In one test, where participants were shown each word for just 33 milliseconds, negative words were correctly spotted 77 per cent of the time, as opposed to 59 per cent for positive terms.

clipped from www.independent.co.uk

Coca Cola

In the 1950s, market researcher James Vicary claimed he could get more cinemagoers to drink Coca-Cola by flashing messages on the screen for a fraction of a second. He claimed sales of the soft drink jumped 58 per cent, but later admitted that the stunt was a fabrication.

clipped from www.independent.co.uk

Macdonald's

In 2007, the appearance of a McDonald's logo in one frame of the Iron Chef America TV series led to accusations of subliminal advertising. The Food Network said it was an accidental glitch.

clipped from en.wikipedia.org

Subliminal message

A subliminal message is a signal or message embedded in another medium, designed to pass below the normal limits of the human mind's perception. These messages are unrecognizable by the conscious mind, but in certain situations can affect the subconscious mind and can negatively or positively influence subsequent later thoughts, behaviors, actions, attitudes, belief systems and value systems.

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