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November 17, 2005 10:35 PM

Are subliminal messages illegal? I'm looking for citations, not vague impressions or urban legends (which so far is all I have to go on -- Google has not been helpful). I'm thinking of creating/commissioning a video project that will involve projection of subliminal images and/or words. The audience would be told that this was happening -- but not what the content of the messages was.
posted by Artifice_Eternity to Media & Arts (11 answers total)

In the United States, it's not illegal per se, but certainly subject to regulation. Intentional deception by media/advertisers is mostly prohibited and I think that's pretty much the point of subliminal messages. Anyway, this Google search turned up a number of pages declaring that it is not illegal. And one that said it is illegal in Russia. But there wasn't much evidence cited on any of these sites. I didn't dig past the first page of results though.
posted by panoptican at 10:53 PM on November 17, 2005

Best answer: Subliminal messages are often used for self-help hypnosis tapes and the like that legally. Panoptican's first link looks pretty definitive, I just wanted to note that it's not always even unethical if the audience is aware of and willingly subjects to the embedded content.
posted by moift at 11:04 PM on November 17, 2005

Well the first link only deals with subliminal messages in a broadcast/advertising sense. The example that moift gives about self-help tapes is totally legal. And I imagine the project that you want to do Artifice_Eternity wouldn't run into any legal problems if that's why you're asking.
posted by panoptican at 11:08 PM on November 17, 2005

Response by poster: Panoptican: Yes.

Moift: Good point... those tapes are all over the place. Presumably if I give advance disclosure, there's no problem.
posted by Artifice_Eternity at 11:12 PM on November 17, 2005

Subliminal messages are regulated by the FCC, but not illegal. It doesn't sound like you want to broadcast this over the airwaves, just present it to an audience in person. So it's probably not an issue, especially since you're letting them know in advance that the messages exist.
posted by helios at 11:12 PM on November 17, 2005

I don't think you even have to disclose it, as you are not advertising anything (which, as pointed out above, is what's regulated). It's ok in art. Like the split-second Brad Pitts flashed in Ed Norton's scenes (oh, and that cock shot at the end) in Fight Club. As long as the frames don't say "DRINK COKE", you're ok.

(Didn't Hitchcock use single-frame shots in some of his movies?)
posted by neda at 11:30 PM on November 17, 2005

Becase I hear these rumors so much, often from people in high school (so many teachers tell this legend as true), I find it necessary to tell the actual story behind subliminal messages whenever mentioned.

Everyone has heard of the whole mania surrounding the person who supposedly did an experiment, putting in pop corn or coke ads at small intervals (somewhere in the 1950's I believe, his name escpaes me). Sales apparently shot up greatly from this. The person that did this was not a scientist or researcher. He was a businessman, and there are no definitive results of his work available. After this controversy, he got millions of dollars of investment from people, and then disappeared, never to be heard from again (this whole thing erupted again with the supposed ssatanic messages hidden in vinyl records played backwards). Source is this book: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0023783923/102-7723927-9953767?v=glance&n=283155&n=507846&s=books&v=glance

In actual experiments done, flashing a product improved sales marginaly. It was not statistically significant. In Canada, they invited people to guess at what message they had flashed during a TV show 352 times. None of the 500 entries were even close (nearly half of the people reported that they felt oddly hungry or thirsty. the actual message was: 'TELEPHONE NOW'). The only way you can really affect someone subliminally is by showing a general image, such as a smiling face, occasionally. People who this is done to seem slightly happier afterwards (versus control group, and vice versa with a sad/angry expression). [source: Exploring Psychology by David G. Myers] That might be the tipping point in deciding whether someone will purchase a product, however. Unless there is sometihng obscene in the advertisement, you should be fine legally.

Also, regarding the tapes referred to: the only thing the use of those tapes correlates to is a short-term increase in relaxation. The supposed purpose is really arbitrary.
posted by frankie_stubbs at 12:40 AM on November 18, 2005

Brad Pitt and the cock in Fight Club weren't subliminal.

I'm sure in the UK subliminal messages on television are illegal. I can't find anything to back this up however.
posted by fire&wings at 4:13 AM on November 18, 2005

Subliminal messages
    Y    o    u         w    i    l    l         n    o    w         w    a    k    e         u    p         a    n    d         c    l    u    c    k         l    i    k    e         a         c    h    i    c    k    e    n    .    
should be illegal.
posted by orthogonality at 4:17 AM on November 18, 2005

As frankie-stubbs points out, there has only ever been one example of single-frame subliminals resulting in a positive correlation in sales. It was conducted by a cinema owner in the 50s/60s and apparently resulted in a huge increase in Coke sales. However, these results have never been replicated in hundreds of studies since and most consider that he lied about his results. Nonetheless, it caused sufficient panic for America to ban all single-frame adverts in 1974.

(Interesting side-note: people think that, at 25 frames per second, they wouldn't notice a single-frame change. Not true: think of the 5... 4... 3... 2... 1... countdown at the start of an old reel. Each of those numbers is only on screen for a single frame.)

However, there are other forms of subliminal advertising which don't incorporate single-frames. Suggestive imagery is frequently used in adverts, particularly in the feminine hygiene and spirits categories. This one's a classic:


(You don't pour booze like that... but you do hold something else very special in that way...)

Or this one, where an advert for panty liners contains a very obvious "fish" reference (click for bigger):


There's also a classic for Imulse body spray (a deodorant aimed at 13-16 girls) which features a number of phalluses in the background but I can't find an image of it.

Pirelli advert with oh-so-subtle imagery:



And so on. So, in answer to your question: whilst single-frame subliminals are illegal, subliminal imagery is much more common than you might imagine.
posted by blag at 6:39 AM on November 18, 2005

Because nothing makes me want to buy a tire like thinking about rock hard cocks.

I remember my dad had a book about subliminal messages with all that kind of thing in it when I was a kid: it all looks like BS to me, like when people play heavy metal records backwards and look for the devil messages. Like that fish. I'm not buying the fish either. For that matter...

but you do hold something else very special in that way

Uh. What... What the fuck do you hold like that? I mean seriously, I put my hands like that guy is holding that bottle and I don't hold anything of mine that way.

Ooh, now post some of the dirty pictures in ice cubes!
posted by nanojath at 8:34 PM on November 18, 2005