Subliminal Message Essay

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Subliminal Messages Are you sure that you aren’t being subconsciously manipulated into making decisions that you wouldn’t normally make? Are you sure that over the next few days, your purchases of popcorn and Coke will be completely under your conscious control? Are you sure your favorite Disney classics aren’t subconsciously displaying images or phrases? Are you even sure that I haven’t rooted secret messages into this research paper to manipulate you into giving me an A? If you didn’t consciously perceive “secret messages” but you did perceive them subconsciously, then they would be called subliminal. The word “subliminal” literally means “existing or operating below the threshold of consciousness” (Dictionary). The threshold is the level at which you are aware of stimuli, so if something is below the threshold, or subliminal, you are not consciously aware of it. Thus, we might be receiving subliminal messages without knowing it. I have research to show the psychology behind subliminal messages, as well as, how people see or hear subliminal messages constantly. Subliminal advertisements stimulated significant public attention in 1957. The most infamous being the urban legend of a movie theater in New Jersey had flashed subliminal messages on its movie screen during the showing of the film Picnic, according to market researcher, James Vicary. These messages were flashed for 0.003 second once every 5 seconds and urged the audience to Eat popcorn and Drink Coca-Cola over a course of six weeks. 45,699 patrons viewed these subliminal messages. Vicary reported that its popcorn sales increased 57.7 percent and its Coca-Cola sales rose 18.1 percent. Some people just dismissed this as a publicity stunt or believed that you can’t be affected by something you can’t perceive. The truth is that Vicary never described his study in print and in turn, the original

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