The Cargo-Cult Science of Subliminal Persuasion

751 Words2 Pages

In the modern film industry, movie theaters across the nation earn billions of dollars due solely to ticket sales. When the amount of funds spent on butter-soaked popcorn, fizzing soft drinks, and handfuls of teeth-rotting confections is factored in, theater owners ought to be sufficiently content with the money being raked in. But even with that being said, no billionaire CEO is going to turn away an opportunity to earn even more. In the introduction of “The Cargo-Cult Science of Subliminal Persuasion” written by Anthony R. Pratkanis, summarizes the infamous subliminal persuasion experiment conducted by James Vicary in 1957. Vicary, a market researcher, administered an investigation involving popcorn, Coca Cola products and the big silver screen. During showings of the 1955 film Picnic, Vicary rigged the film projector to flash the phrases “Eat Popcorn” and “Drink Coke” repeatedly throughout the movie so quickly that it went unnoticed for quite a while. After running this experiment for six weeks, Vicary claimed that the sales of Coke products increased by 18.1% and those of popcorn by 57.8%. The media of the day spread the story like wildfire and scientists scrambled to replicate the procedure. America between the years 1953 and 1962 was cluttered with talk of Korean War brainwashing and communist mind control. Films of this time such as The Manchurian Candidate, which told the fictional story of a military platoon being brainwashed by the Soviet KGB, aided the fear surrounding these ideas and gave Americans more reason to believe that Vicary’s experiment was legitimate. In 1962, Vicary admitted in an interview with Advertising Age magazine that the original study he had conducted was a hoax created with the intention o... ... middle of paper ... ...rch presented does not establish that subliminal stimuli, even if perceived, may precipitate conduct of this magnitude.” This case and its verdict had a large impact on the theories about subliminal messaging. The fascination surrounding the study of subliminal persuasion falls under the classification “cargo-cult science”, a term coined by physicist Richard Feynman, describing a study that “has all the trappings of science” but lacks the sense of skepticism. Since there are no specific aspects of subliminal compliance gaining that seem like they could be effective with minor “tweaking”, the entire pseudo-science has been demystified. Works Cited Pratkins, A. (n.d.). The Cargo-Cult Science of Subliminal Persuasion. - Committee of Skeptical Inquiry. Retrieved September 30, 2013, from

Show More
Related

  • Summary: The Gruen Transfer

    1213 Words  | 3 Pages

    Rationale This Further Oral Activity will be presented on a T.V. show format (based on the show “The Gruen Transfer”), with the host focusing on the false advertising of well-known health foods and drinks. This FOA will focus on the persuasive language and manipulative strategies used by businesses to influence and mislead consumers into believing false perceptions of their product, using case examples to support the evidence presented. The purpose of this FOA is to inform the audience on the plethora of manipulative and persuasive language used in advertising for ‘supposedly’ healthy products, while the target audience is Australian T.V. viewers 18-50 who are interested in the influence of advertising. The context of the piece is based on today’s world of marketing and how persuasive advertising strategies can influence Australian consumers.

    Read More

  • Salsa Case Study

    762 Words  | 2 Pages

    In the world of party chips and zesty dips, the Sensational Salsa company has created a new brand of salsa flavor. Having believe that they have created a culinary masterpiece, the company has already produced a mountains worth of their new salsa flavor. However, when they begin selling the salsa, they were shocked when the statistic showed that many children and adults did not enjoy the taste of their new flavor. Devastated by the news, the Sensational Salsa company deployed a questionable tactic to persuade more people into buying their salsa and change their attitude towards their product: they plan to pay off parents to lie on Facebook about how much they enjoyed the salsa. By employing this method of persuasive communication, the Sensational Salsa company will try to change the attitude the public has of their product both cognitively and affectively.

    Read More

  • Review of Stanley Milgram’s Experiments on Obedience, by Diana Baumrind and Obedience, by Ian Parker

    890 Words  | 2 Pages

    Upon analyzing his experiment, Stanley Milgram, a Yale psychologist, concludes that people will drive to great lengths to obey orders given by a higher authority. The experiment, which included ordinary people delivering “shocks” to an unknown subject, has raised many questions in the psychological world. Diana Baumrind, a psychologist at the University of California and one of Milgram’s colleagues, attacks Milgram’s ethics after he completes his experiment in her review. She deems Milgram as being unethical towards the subjects he uses for testing and claims that his experiment is irrelevant to obedience. In contrast, Ian Parker, a writer for New Yorker and Human Sciences, asserts Milgram’s experiments hold validity in the psychological world. While Baumrind focuses on Milgram’s ethics, Parker concentrates more on the reactions, both immediate and long-term, to his experiments.

    Read More

  • The 1954 CIA Coup in Guatemala

    4707 Words  | 10 Pages

    The early 1950s was a time of tension and uncertainty in the world. The Cold War replaced ‘hot’ war. Humankind had gone from the terror of actual war to the terror of the potential of nuclear war. The situation was aggravated by the ongoing conflict in Korea which pitted the forces of the ‘Free World’ against the specter of international Communism. Anticommunist hysteria gripped the US political scene, mirroring many of the excesses of the Stalinist enemy that it was in struggle with in the international arena.

    Read More

  • Brainwashing: Fact vs Fiction

    1078 Words  | 3 Pages

    ...es such as, persuasion, influence, propaganda that affects a certain individual or group is only defined by psychologist as free will. The following essay nevertheless concludes that real victims of mind-control are those that have been exposed to unethical experiments during the authoritarian regimes and the period of cold war.

    Read More

  • The Likelihood Model Of Persuasion Essay

    1135 Words  | 3 Pages

    The elaboration likelihood model (ELM) of persuasion is a theory of persuasion that focuses on how the audience interprets logic, evidence, reasoning, and other factors of the speaker or speech. Direct and indirect routes are both methods that contribute to the ELM approach. Direct persuasion route requires giving the audience arguments and evidence to make them think about how a product is a necessity to them, such as gas that can make a car go faster, food that can make a person meet his or her weight loss goals, or insurance that can give practical help to someone who needs it. Indirect persuasion is the usage of other tactics that appeal to the audience without them necessarily realizing it. The audience can use their intuition to be drawn in by a speaker’s charm, a catchy jingle, or a picture of a celebrity using the

    Read More

  • Self-fulfilling Prophecy

    1640 Words  | 4 Pages

    Bushman, Brad J., Roy F. Baumeister, and Angela D. Stack. “Catharsis, Aggression, and Persuasive Influence: Self-Fulfilling or Self-Defeating Prophecies.” Online Posting. 17 July 2001 <http://www.apa.org/journals/psp/psp763367.html>.

    Read More

  • Examples Of Brainwashing In Brave New World

    733 Words  | 2 Pages

    While many may believe humans are inbreeded with certain believes and morals, they automatically diminish the probability of being brainwashed. Literary works as Brave New World, and the government of North Korea, prove controlling the mind to be possible.

    Read More

  • The Principle of Persuasion

    1297 Words  | 3 Pages

    Wilby, P.  (2007, February). Persuasion is a science. New Statesman, 136(4833), 15.  Retrieved May 4, 2011, from ABI/INFORM Global. (Document ID: 1223180481).

    Read More

  • The Effects of Subliminal Advertising

    856 Words  | 2 Pages

    The notion of subliminal advertising grew within the 1950's. A man named James Vicary who inserted subliminal messages in movies "sparked the first large-scale subliminal scare, and his projections into the subconscious, though never documented or replicated, are still frequently cited as "evidence" of the insidious power of subliminals." (Subliminal Survives) Although sales of cola increased 18% and sales pf popcorn increased 58%, Vicary later downplayed the effectiveness of subliminal advertising due to the small amount of research he had collected from it.

    Read More

  • The Morality of Lying in Contrast to the Philosophies of Kant

    2310 Words  | 5 Pages

    Henningsen, D. D., Cruz, M. G., & Morr, M. C. (2000). “Pattern Violations and Perception of Deception.” Communication Reports. Vol. 13, No. 1, pp. 1-9.

    Read More

  • Porter's Five Forces Analysis For The Movie Industry

    561 Words  | 2 Pages

    Movie theaters are conglomerates in the film industry. Only a few competing firms. Offer the same ticket prices and provide the same products and roughly the same services to customers.

    Read More

  • Bilingualism and Cognitive Control: A State of the Art Review

    1664 Words  | 4 Pages

    Stroop, J. R. (1935). Studies of interference in serial verbal reactions. Journal of Experimental Psychology,18:643-662.

    Read More

  • The Elaboration Likelihood Model (ELM)

    939 Words  | 2 Pages

    When someone tries to persuade others to join in thinking or believing something, a process takes place. Those receivers of the information are to process what the source is saying and in turn decide whether or not to go along with the idea. But what if people do not always process information, and what if they merely go with the crowd? The Elaboration Likelihood Theory (ELM) developed by Social psychologists Petty and Cacioppo, illustrates how persuasion, or the presentation of facts in order to move someone or thing a certain way, takes place. This model “analyzes the likelihood that receivers will cognitively elaborate,” in other words break down the information gathered and determine whether or not the message is enough to persuade the receiver (Enfante, Rancer & Avtgis, 2010, p. 172).

    Read More

  • Advertising: Modern Day Brainwashing

    3188 Words  | 7 Pages

    Advertisers and corporations are liable for using modern and sophisticated forms of mind control to the extent level of brainwashing consumers, in order to manipulate their choices and their spending habits. Our society is being negatively impacted, by becoming a consumer driven society constantly distracted by overwhelming persuasive advertisements, as opposed to ideal informative advertisements. The most vulnerable and negatively impacted targets of persuasive advertising are the younger, less mature, and/or less knowledgeable and self-directed consumers. Ironically, it was once said “An advertising agency is 85 percent confusion and 15% commission” (Allen). It is quite clear that social benefits are not part of this equation. The harm and severe social related costs far outweigh any economic growth and benefits deemed necessary for advertising and marketing companies.

    Read More

More about The Cargo-Cult Science of Subliminal Persuasion

Open Document