1. Do you feel persuaded by this advertisement?

2. Subliminal Messages
• Information that may influence our behavior without our conscious awareness
• Brief auditory or visual messages that are presented below the absolute threshold, that our chance of conscious perception is less than 50%

3. Types of Subliminal Messages
• Image Flashing
• Soft Sounds
• Visual Embeds
• Backmasking

4. Image Flashing
Image flashed on a screen that our eyes sense but our brain does not consciously perceive
•First known use was in 1957 at a movie theater, though results of “study” were later admitted to have been falsified

5. Image Flashing Examples

6. Soft Sounds
• Second audio track that is much quieter than regular soundtrack
• Used in stores, movies, and self-improvement tapes

7. Soft Sounds Example
Listen to the soundtrack “below” the main part of the dialogue in Aladdin

8. Visual Embeds
• An image that you see but don’t perceive unless it is pointed out to you
• Often used in advertisements

9. We Came, We Saw, We Conquered
Visual Embeds Example
Veni, Vidi, Vici =
We Came, We Saw, We Conquered

10. Another Couple of Examples of Visual Embeds

11. Yet Another Example

12. And one more example of visual embeds…

13. And the last example of Visual Embeds

14. Backmasking • Hidden track only audible when music is played backwards
• Controversy surrounds musical artists accused of backmasking

15. Examples of Backmasking
Artist: Led Zeppelin Song: Black Dog Forward: Started tellin’ her friends she gonna
be a star.
Backward: Oh Satan want ya near bless my soul.

16. Artist: Rolling Stones Song: Tops
Forward: I’m sorry for a breath of your sweet love.
Backward: I love you, said the Devil.

17. Artist: Ozzy Osborne Song: Suicide Solution
Forward: Get your gun and do it...shoot shoot shoot shoot shoot.
Backward: When the last “shoot” is played backward it says Satan. (This song was blamed for causing suicides among teens.)

18. Backward: O Satan, O Satan, O Satan, O Satan
Artist: Pokemon Song: The Pokemon Rap Forward: Gotta catch ‘em all, Gotta catch ‘em all, Gotta catch ‘em all, Gotta catch ‘em all,
Backward: O Satan, O Satan, O Satan, O Satan

19. Artist: Led Zeppelin Song: Stairway To Heaven Forward: If there’s a bustle in your hedgerow, don’t be alone now, it’s just a spring clean for the May queen. Yes there are two paths you can go back, but in the long run, there’s still time to change the road you’re on.
Backward: Here's to my sweet Satan. The one whose little path would make me sad, whose power is Satan. He’ll give you 666, there was a little tool shed where he made us suffer, sad Satan.

20. Artist: Michael Jackson Song: Beat It Forward: So beat it
Backward: I do believe it was Satan in me

21. Backward: It’s fun to smoke marijuana`
Artist: Queen Song: Another One Bites The Dust Forward: Another one bites the dust
Backward: It’s fun to smoke marijuana