This short article will give an insight into the visual examples of subliminal messages as used in political speeches, cartoons, movies, song, and of course the media and advertising industry – especially the advertising industry!
Subliminal messages in every corner of the advertising industry, across all types of brands, corporations, and products, - it doesn't matter on the industry - even the most subtle subliminal suggestion can have a huge effect on brand recognition and on sales.
However, subliminal messaging has actually been banned from use in TV adverts – advertising agencies are not allowed to use a flashed visual message within a commecial which is shorter than 0.5 of a second i.e. faster than the eye is able to see. Neither are they allowed to use subliminal sounds – for example a sound which is below or above the level of human hearing capacity – this is basically as they are seen as manipulative – and rightly so, there have been several studies showing the influence of subliminal adverts.
However there are still a LOT of subliminal messages in advertising billboards. These vary from hidden text within an image (most commonly the word Sex), or subliminal suggestions (again most commonly suggesting Sexual intercourse).
Virtually all sectors of industry have used subliminal messages - everyone from from local neighbourhood bars to multinational fast food companies; - even McDonalds, and KFC producing subliminal suggestions for their adverts. Coca cola perhaps being the cleverest of these three – often creating images of naked women out of the design on their cans, out of the shape of ice cubes, and making happy faces out of the lettering of their logo – anything to either link coca cola to sex in the mind of the consumer or link their brand positively in general.
George Bush has also heavily used subliminal suggestions throughout his election campaigns, and even Disney are frequent users of subliminals – even in a kids cartoon they include subliminal messages for the same reasons as coca cola do – to add another element to their movies, and give a wider appeal and make their movies more memorable.
There are countless more visual examples of subliminal messages so follow the link to see some more.