The Top Ten Conspiracy Theories Number 9

Subliminal Advertising

Can subliminal advertising make you purchase a product?

According to Howstuffworks.com, a subliminal message (meaning, below "limen," or our conscious perception threshold) is a "message embedded into images or sound meant to penetrate into our subconscious and influence our behavior."

The term was coined in 1957, by James Vicary, a market researcher who inserted messages into a movie that was showcased in a New Jersey theater. The carefully hidden message instructed moviegoers to drink Coca-Cola and eat popcorn.

The use of subliminal advertising purportedly increased in the following years, and in 1973, author Wilson Bryan Key wrote a controversial book about the subject. The following year the Federal Communications Commission launched an investigation, during which they determined that subliminal advertising was "intended to be deceptive."

Following a series of hearings, the FCC banned the use of subliminal advertising.

Today, experts continue to disagree on how effective subliminal messages are. Several independent studies have been conducted, perhaps the most famous of which was done by a Canadian TV station, which flashed the message "Call now" to viewers during a broadcast. According to the station, the message had no effect on their viewers.

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