Advertising

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peared in the New York Times stating that “(KTLA) was certainly playing with fire” (Wash 2). This hysteria brought a quick reaction from the FCC (Federal Communication Commission) stating to its members that “caution in using the new technique would evidence proper regard for the public interest” (Wash 1). The NAB (National Association of Broadcasters) followed suit by urging it’s members to not use subliminal messages pending “review and consideration” (Hidden 2). These FCC and NAB warnings were only the beginning of a long future of government intervention into the use of subliminal advertising.
The most prevalent study of the use of subliminal messages has to be the trials conducted by James Vicary in 1957 in a theater in Fort Lee, New Jersey. Vicary used his newly developed machine to flash images onto the screen in five second intervals at a speed of 1/300th of a second. The claimed results of the test according to Vicary was that cola sales improved by 18% while popcorn sales rose an amazing 58%. Vicary was never able to provide records of his test. Vicary stuck by his claims even though many other scientists could not replicate Vicary’s success. One such test was posted in a bulletin from the FCC that said:
On January 19, 1958, during a half-hour CBC-TV network program carried on 27 Canadian stations, an undisclosed subliminal message was flashed on the screen 352 ...