On September 12, 1957, market researcher James Vicary held a press conference that made a new term famous.
Vicary claimed to have developed “hidden” ads that could be used in movies and TV shows. Ads that flashed by so quickly they were not consciously noticed by viewers, but affected their buying habits. He coined the term “subliminal advertising” to describe them and it gained widespread attention from claims he made at his press conference.
One hidden message was “Hungry? Eat popcorn.” The other was “Drink Coca-Cola.”
Vicary claimed his subliminal ads increased Coke sales at the theater by 18% over normal levels and boosted popcorn sales by 57%!
His announcement alarmed the public and the media. In 1958, the National Association of Broadcasters proactively banned the broadcast of subliminal ads.
But scientists who looked into Vicary’s research soon debunked the idea that such ads have any real effect. Then, Vicary admitted he had falsified the data.
Despite that, the bogeyman of “subliminal advertising” was launched into our language and cultural consciousness.
It popped up famously during the 2000 presidential campaign.
An ad used for George W. Bush’s presidential campaign appeared to briefly flash the word “RATS” on screen after showing a photo of the Democratic nominee, Al Gore, while saying that Gore’s health care plan would let bureaucrats make medical decisions.
If you watch the “RATS” ad very closely on YouTube, you will see those letters. They seem to be the tail end of the word “BUREAUCRATS” as that word zooms into the screen. Subliminal advertising? Maybe not.
But the “RATS” ad drew outraged complaints from Democrats and created a media uproar. So, on September 12, 2000, Bush responded to the controversy by saying:
“I wanna make it clear to people that, you know, the idea of putting subliminable messages into ads is, is ridiculous.”
He actually used the Bushism “subliminable” several times that day when addressing the ad hubbub.
And, that’s why the date September 12th is linked to both the original term “subliminal advertising” and to the newer, um, word “subliminable.”
It’s an incredidable coincidence!
