Subliminal Message - The Truth About Subliminal Messaging

In 1957, in a movie house in Ft. Lee New Jersey James Vicary conducted one of the most famous experiments into the effects of subliminal messages. By showing the audience flashing subliminal messages intended to make them want to buy coca cola and popcorn he claimed he increased the sales of both products.

The Vicary study caused controversy from the outset. It caused concern in government which eventually bled to the general public. The panic created soon paved the way for a complete ban of subliminal messages from TV and radio in several countries!

Vicary admitted in 1957 that his findings had been fabricated but the phenomenon of subliminal messages still lives on. Why is this?

Perhaps part of the answer lies in some 1957 subliminal messages experiments conducted by a very large and powerful organization.

It is well known that the CIA take great interest in mind altering research. It should not be a surprise then to find out that they conducted their own studies into subliminal messages!

As is probably obvious to you, the CIA wanted to learn whether or not they could use subliminal messages as a form of manipulation. In reports that have been declassified and released under the Freedom of Information Act we can read just how involved in this pursuit they were.

The CIA report, "The Operational Potential of Subliminal Perception", written in 1958 highlights some of their findings. In a 1980 article for High Times magazine Martin Lee states that a former CIA agent revealed that the agency committed themselves to discovering the effectiveness of subliminal messages in the manipulation of political outcomes!

A worrying note in the above mentioned journal states that it may be possible to include a word such as "obey" in their subliminal messages.

Although we have no way of knowing whether the CIA ever stopped their investigations into subliminal messages we do know that it is prevalent in advertising. It is also used frequently in self improvement fields as a tool for self change. Subliminal messages are used in a variety of personal development products.