More on that story here:

http://www.realscienceofsuccess.com/EatPopcorn.htm

I hadn't heard that the sub. movie thing was a hoax, thanks. Is there any evidence for this subliminal stuff? Or does it only work because we want it to and believe in it?

liked the film !

Well, that is interesting to know that the story was a hoax! Still, there is a part of me that would like to test it myself...!! Your trailer is very creative and well done - cool music! I noticed that it was -almost- subliminal in some parts. In a few of the frames, there was only time to read half of the message, then a new screen, then back to the first, where I could finish reading the message. Subliminals on valium? Even though I was trying to quickly read the entire message, the cartoon depictions were registering as well. Our brains register so much data, unconsciously/consciously, it's amazing!

Note from MJ: Hey Nancy - intelligent comment as always. You bet - we sure do take in a lot of information and there may be some potential here. All I can report on is the falsification of the test results. Doesn't mean certain applications of micro-impressions of information may not work - for influence, personal development, etc ... But the personal development guys aren't doing themselves, or the world, any favors by citing fake studies. There are quite a few cases of that - I think marketers get quite trigger happy when searching for "proof" their products work.

I read about this years ago. The experiment wasn't a hoax. It was simply not a controlled study. In addition to flashing the words on the screen, the theater also installed a new popcorn machine and placed it in a more central location where everybody could smell it. There was no way to separate the smell inducement from the subliminal inducement in that experiment. Subsequent research seems to support smell as a greater inducement to buy popcorn.

Note from MJ: Hi Lois, Vicary admitted to falsifying his numbers. Hoax, fraud, whatever you want to call it - he admitted to it ...

There is a new study (this year) about this that seems to confirm to some degree that what you see have some impact in you even if you are not aware that you've seen it, sadly I can remember where I read it (one mounth ago).

Note from MJ: Hey Carlos, I'd love to see that if you can find it. I wouldn't be surprised about these findings - we just have to be careful about what conclusions we draw from them ...

How about other studies that have been conducted since? 1962 is like a lifetime ago. A lot of research has been done on the subject in the former USSA and Eastern European countries. The Bulgarian linguist professor Lozanov had very good results using a subliminal method for teaching foreign languages.

And hasn't it been 'proved' (careful with this word of course!) that when the brain begins to produce more alpha waves, it takes in and processes this kind of information easier?

With complex beings as humans there would be many factors to take into account when doing such a test. If 'drink coca-cola' is subconsciously met by 'pepsi rocks', the effect would be gone. If the messages were flashed during a horror movie, the watchers would have been too stressed out to pick up on anything else. Etc.

When Lozanov gave his language courses, he took care of a whole range of things to put his students in a totally relaxed state of body/mind first. A combination of dimmed light, comfortable chairs, fresh air, esthetic rooms that please the eye, baroque largos etc etc.

But results are also influenced by the subjects inner motivation and willingness to take in new information.

It's an interesting subject and it deserves better than being discarded this easily in the hoax trash box.

Pity James Vicary was untruthful with his research. Then, he apparantly was a marketing researcher and frankly the majority of 'proof' that's been written in marketing materials sounds like hoaxes as well...

Note from MJ: Patricia, I'm not discarding anything - 'cept perhaps this particular study that we know now was falsified. I can only comment on this particular piece of lore being a story based on a fabrication and it's invocation when people want to sell subliminals. As for any other evidence of the effectivenss of subliminals, that's a whole 'nother discussion. And "subliminal technique A" does not equal "subliminal technique B." If you want to show some specific studies, provide some links here ... That's what this space is for.

Too bad Vicary falsified his results. Too bad, too, IF the "moving of the popcorn maker" was also true.

But, just because a study was tainted doesn't mean the whole premise is wrong, yes?

Subliminal messaging is, in part, what we wordsmiths do, isn't it? We paint a picture with words that will trigger an emotion that will then entice the reader to ACT.

We don't openly "inform" our reader that we're trying to tap, touch or trigger an emotion that will entice them to buy, call or order, do we?

May not fit, exactly, but it just came up for me.

Once upon a time, I recall some claims about Camel Cigarettes, was it? There was a subliminal sexual connotation ... something to do with the humps in the camel that was said to be conjuring women's mammory parts. (Subliminal sexual messages sell was the idea.)

Anyway, it seems like it was forcibly removed. Anybody remember that?? :)

Aahh yes, what advertisers will do to gain market share, huh?

Note from MJ: Hey Carolyn, yeah I saw that Camel thing with my own eyes when I was a young cigarette smokin' hoodlum. It was a man holding his private parts. Pretty clearly there. Not sure what happened to that or if there was any evidence showing it was effective. And you're absolutely right - it sure doesn't mean the whole premise is wrong. It could be partyly wrong, totally wrong, totally right, right in some cases, wrong in others ... I'm more fascinated in this post about how easily the disinformation spread - and stuck. And how marketers will invoke scientific studies that don't exist to boost sales. Hey, that's why Vicary did what he did - to get people to purchase his marketing services :-)

MJ, you're too clever not to use subliminal messages yourself. Saying "You won't see any subliminal messages in there." followed by exposing the James Vicary hoax could be seen as such. So it's safe to be exposed to your trailer?

Who cares?!

You can put as much subliminal messages in there as you want to and persuade us consciously and subconsciously to get your simpleology materials, as long as it helps us all to get what we want. :P

I know you have integrity and that you genuinely want to help people move forward with their lives. And your simpleology course is stuffed with clever accelerated learning techniques which make it an easy and fun experience and which positively triggers all the bio-chemical potential we possess for achieving whatever.

And I also know that you didn't arrive at this format by accident but that a lot of study and research went into this to ensure you could present us with the best of the best study materials.

And I'm not saying this to kiss your behind, but because you really impressed me with simpleology and its effects in my own life. :-)

Anyway...

For anyone interested in learning more on the topic, here are some resources. Maybe a google will show they are archived online by now...

Becker, H.C., and Charbonnet, K.D. 'Applications of subliminal video and audio stimuli in therapeutic, educational, industrial and commercial settings.' 8th Annual Northeast Bioengineerig Conference, M.I.T. 1980.

Barratt, P.E.H. en Herd, J.M. 'Subliminal conditioning of the alpha rythm.' Australia Journal of Psychology, year 16, 1964.

Dixon, Norman F. 'Subliminal Perception: the Nature of a Controversy.' London: McGraw-Hill 1971

Goldstein, M.J. and Davis, D. 'The impact of stimuli registering outsid of awareness upon personal preferences.' Journal of Personality, year 29, 1961

Goleman, Daniel 'Research Probes What the Mind Senses Unaware.' New York Times, 14 Aug. 1990

Silverman, L.H. 'A comprehensive report of studies using the subliminal psychodynamic activation method.' Psychological Research Bulleting, Lund University, year 20, no 3, 1980.

Lozanov, Georgi, 'Suggestion in Psychology and Education.', New York 1978.

Note from MJ: thanks for the kind words and the references!

I interviewed Dr. Stephen Kraus about this for my Success Unwrapped show (which Mark also appeared on)... he calls it self-help snake oil and says there's no evidence that subliminal tapes work either.

The other big hoax was the Yale study of goals, which never took place (you know, 3% wrote down their goals and 20 years later that 3% was more successful than the other 97% combined... my numbers may be slightly off, but that's the gist of it). And yet self-help gurus continue to quote that one too. Fascinating stuff.

As for less-subliminal sexual references in ads -- anybody remember the "shake hands with the long-necked Bud" campaign, or was that only in Canada? (when Budweiser launched as a long-necked bottle rather than a stubby, 15-20 years ago). There was nothing subtle about the way the guy had the bottle between his legs and was "shaking hands" with it.

cheers
Heather

Quite interesting to see that the whole thing was falsified! I remember an old Colombo film which had the baddie, Peter Falk, splicing in a visual of a cool glass of water into a reel of film to lure his surprised and inexplicably thirsty victim out of the cinema for a drink before the interval, thereby meeting his grizzly end, so the whole subliminal theory must have become a meme of sorts at some stage or another. That TV series must be over 25 years old and that�s about the only episode I remember. But thinking about it, the humps on a camel�s back makes me think of the Pyramids, but then again, I�m a woman.

Great promotional film Mark. I love the �typewriter� effect of the words � makes me think of the great novelists battering out their prose from some whisky soaked idyll in Singapore, or better still, those old fashioned telegrams with secret codes hidden in them. Did you intend for me to pick up a bit of urgency and a kind of �special message for you� in this promo film? Is there a Nocebo effect going on with my response? Probably having spent far too much time as an advertising executive has done this to me. Seeing all the high speed flashing 'cartoons' I have looked at before and learned a lot from did make me remember, at a very quick speed, what I had learned from them. I�m buying the book.

Best regards.

Note from MJ: I hope your sampling of one is indicative of the whole population :-)

What about flash frames? I watched a program that put a picture of a jet (from a street perspective) on the screen. It then produced a flash of white and then the same picture again. It asked could you see something missing from the photo?

It was difficult to see anything. Then when the narrator came back on he said, how did you miss the fact the jet had all its engines removed?
It fooled me and I see flash frames like this on television advertising in the UK every day. Needless to say I don't watch much TV at all anymore.

I may be somewhat dense or easily amused but I'm intrigued by the use of sunday-funny-paper comics in your advertising MJ. I know that I am immediately disarmed when I read a comic, and I wonder if it can be used as a tool to gently persuade a reader.

And since you used it extensively in your trailer, I have become all the more curious. I also see that your protege - Russell Brunson is doing the same with Zoobie the Newbie - hmmm.. I wonder

Note from MJ: Soon I will star handing out the kool-aid and am just softening you up.

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