Totally Evian - Fallout #33

John Simpson goes from the subliminal to the ridiculous.

Subliminal advertising. Now there's an interesting topic. On the Simpson list of things worth knowing about it comes just before what does Evian mean?, and after why do we have earlobes? So it's probably no surprise that, until recently, I knew nothing about it.

Subliminal advertising first burst its way into popular culture back in the 1950s, when a marketing guru rented a movie theatre and flashed the words 'eat popcorn' and 'drink coke' between frames of the movie. Reportedly, sales of drinks and popcorn rose dramatically, even though most people there were either snogging in the back row or trying to avoid conscription.

Lots of studies were done on university students, many involving rubber gloves and pointy objects. After having a good chuckle, the more serious researchers decided to look into subliminal messages, using whatever students they had left. They found that people could actually understand messages faster than their eyes could read them. More interestingly, those messages could often induce subjects to behave in peculiar ways. Get them to watch a movie and flash messages at them to act like chickens - suddenly, the clucking begins. Tell them their heads have just been cut off and watch them run around and bump into things. Like I said, serious research.

It seems humans are subconsciously aware of a lot of stuff they don't consciously see. A scary thought, considering we're exposed to so much screen content these days.

Television, computer, Palm Pilot, fridge - you name it, there's always some sort of screen in our face.

Thankfully, subliminal advertising was banned in the 70s, although this hasn't stopped some imaginative and highly suspect examples since then. Try these:

In George W Bush's presidential campaign, TV ads showed the other party with the word 'bureaucrats' plastered over the top. Then, as the word fades, the last four letters linger a little longer. Apparently, the idea was to turn voter's off Al Gore's medical plan, because rats are yucky. Hmmm, I see...

In the Disney movie The Lion King, reportedly the word 'sex' flashes twice on the screen. There's also a scene in The Little Mermaid where a man performing a wedding ceremony gets an erection. I'm not too sure what this is supposed to suggest (that weddings are exciting?) but it makes me suspect that drawing thousands of mermaid pictures eventually gets a tad dull.

And recently in Yachiyo Japan, a polling booth played a song used by the ruling party as its campaign song. Japanese officials were apologetic, offering to fall on their swords or act as Sumo benchseats. The Prime Minister said it was just a 'really cool song' and, with the cost of the band's hairdos, 'these guys need all the airplay they can get'.

My biggest concern is the one advertisement that I sit in front of everyday. The one that helps put bread on my table and a range of toppings in my pantry. Yep, you guessed it - the Windows logo. I've spent an inordinate amount of time staring at that startup screen, and I think I've stumbled on something quite shocking.

It knows my face.
I can't be sure, but I think that just before it does its startup sequence, I see my own face on the screen. It looks almost exactly like me (although not as handsome) with a look bordering between fear and constipation. I think the only reason I've noticed it is that I've been staring so hard and close for so long that it's made my eyes water. But it's in there, I'm sure of it.

This means one of two things. Either Microsoft knows that I've altered my registry and deleted Messenger, or that one of their satellites has somehow managed to find a way through my Alfoil headpiece. Or maybe that I need an anti-glare screen.

In any event, subliminal advertising is real, and it may be more widespread than you know. Some people [buy] even think [more] it could be used [Atomic] in magazines [merchandise]. So the next time you watch a Disney movie and start feeling a bit frisky, you too may have been manipulated. So to speak.

Oh, BTW, we have earlobes to hang stuff off. And Evian is a city in France and doesn't really mean anything - although backwards it spells "naive". Subliminal stuff...