In
1957 advertising man
James Vicary created and
patented a device that would display an image for approximately one third of a millisecond over a
theater projector. In collaboration with a theater owner in
Fort Lee,
New Jersey, he used the device to display a
frame containing the messages
"Eat Popcorn!" and
"Drink Coke!" to a movie theater
audience, which was supposed to boost
sales of popcorn and coke in the theater.
According to Vicary, it did. In fact, he and the theater owner reported that coke sales had increased 18% during the period the frames were shown, and that popcorn sales had jumped a whopping 58%.
This announcement caused quite a
panic in the American media, leading essentially
everyone to believe their
minds could be controlled at a whim by
advertising companies on
television and in
theaters. Earlier that same year,
Vince Packard had released the supposed expose "The Hidden Persuaders", which cited similar (and even more
dubious) cases, including one that supposedly had led people to buy more
ice cream through a similar technique.
The
American public was, however, ready to believe anything. In the era of
space zombies,
hidden commies, and
coconut amnesia epidemics,
mind control was something that struck a strangely appealing and familiar note. And so, even today,
crackpot cynics and amateur
experts on everything will have you believe that
subliminal messaging is a very real part of our everyday lives.
The complete and total inability of
scientists to replicate the findings of
Vicary and
Packard, in addition to a personal
admission on the part of
Vicary in
1963 that the entire spectacle was a
hoax designed to make him a
buck or two off of his
patent did little to stem the spread of these
falsities. Which is why, if you ask the
right (or rather the
wrong)
high school psychology teacher even today, you might hear about the
dangers of subliminal flashes in advertising.