|
|
![]() | ![]() |
 |
|
View Funnies |
Tuesday, April 22, 2025 |
Subliminal Advertising: Does it work?   
Date: Sent Friday, October 20, 2000
Category: None | Rating: 1.81/5 (70 votes)
Click a button to cast your vote
|
|
/* GCFL is now accepting donations for the operation of the list, equipment upgrades, and the usual costs of running the list (Internet cost,
server & web page maintenance, etc.).
GCFL has grown at an astounding rate! However, costs have increased with the increasing number of members. Specifically the amount of ISP service
required to send over 100,000 emails per day requires tremendous bandwidth. Internet Solutions has graciously donated Internet service to GCFL for
over 3 years, and we feel compelled to give back if and when we can.
GCFL also has exciting plans to expand it's service to other areas! We want to make GCFL available to people that don't have Internet access via a fax
service. There are plans in the works to make GCFL available to anyone using a Palm or similar handheld device. We are entertaining the idea of
designing bumper stickers and T-shirts that will be funny, but clean so you will be proud to display them anywhere! But we can't do any of it without
your help.
We are hoping to raise $2,000 this time to cover everything for the next 6 months. Once again, we want to emphasize that this is purely OPTIONAL. The
GCFL service IS, AND WILL ALWAYS BE A FREE SERVICE. We prefer to ask for donations every 6 months instead of cluttering up the funnies with
advertisements. If only 2% of our members sent $1, we would have more than enough money to meet our goals.
So, if you feel so inclined, please send your donation to:
GCFL, Box 100, Harvest, AL 35749, USA
You also have the option of using your credit card at our online store. It is located at http://www.gcfl.net
We thank you for your generosity! */
Q. Does subliminal advertising work?
A. That's an interesting question. (Send us money.)
The American public was first introduced to the idea of subliminal advertising in 1957 by James M. Vicary. In a press conference announcing the
formation of the Subliminal Projection Company, Vicary claimed that he was able to increase sales of popcorn and Coke through the use of subliminal
advertising. (Send us lots of money.)
According to Vicary, during a six-week test in a movie theater, he was able to drive up sales of popcorn by 57.5% and sales of Coke by 18.1% simply by
flashing the slogans "drink Coke" and "eat popcorn" over the movie for 1/3,000th of a second every five seconds. (You want to send us money.)
As plausible as his assertions might have been, there was little evidence to support them. (Send us money.) For one thing, Vicary refused to reveal
where he conducted his experiment or document it in any meaningful way. What's more, psychologists who performed similar experiments concluded that a
subliminal ad was no more compelling than a billboard glimpsed from the corner of the eye. (Send us your money.)
In an effort to vindicate his claim, Vicary agreed to run the subliminal message "telephone now" during a Canadian broadcast. Like other documented
cases, the experiment failed. Telephone usage didn't increase noticeably, and not a single viewer guessed Vicary's message. (Send us money.)
While neither this experiment nor previous experiments disproved conclusively the effectiveness of subliminal ads, American broadcasters were so
convinced of the ineffectiveness of subliminal messages that they simply volunteered not to run them. (You have an urge to send us money.)
BTW, If you're still unconvinced and would like to see more research on the subject, you'll be happy to know that we're running our own little
subliminal experiment. We can't tell you about it now, but in the coming weeks we'll reveal our findings.
By the way, if you ever need to reach us--for any reason--our mailing address is:
GCFL
Box 100
Harvest, AL 35749, USA
(Source: THE STRAIGHT DOPE Column by Cecil Adams)
Received from Shirley.
|
