If you are unaware of this experiment I will give you a brief outline of what Vicary did and what he claimed the results of his actions were.
In 1957 at a Fort Lee, New Jersey, cinema during a screening of the film Picnic Vicary flashed subliminal messages at a rate of 1/3000 of a second in an attempt to sway the buying behaviors of the unsuspecting movie audience members.
During the films he claimed to have used two subliminal messages aimed at increasing sales of popcorn and coca cola. The messages flashed on the screen were as follows:
"Hungry? Eat popcorn."
"Thirsty? Drink Coca Cola."
As a result of using these subliminal messages Vicary claimed that sales of popcorn rose by 57.8% while coca cola sales rose by 18.1%.
Although his findings sparked a great deal of interest amongst scientists at the time (and the CIA - but that's a whole different story) it cause panic among politicians and the public at large.
Due to Vicary's claims that people could be manipulated by subliminal messages they were eventually banned from television, and radio advertising in Australia, the UK and the USA!
However, no-one was able to replicate Vicary's findings no matter how many times his experiment was duplicated. The reason for this became obvious when, many years later, Vicary admitted that he had made the whole thing up!
All his findings from the study were fabricated and many believe that the study did not even take place in the first place!
So, because Vicary lied about the effectiveness of subliminal messages in his experiment and due to the failure to produce any positive results when the experiment was duplicated most scientists held the view that subliminal messages do not work!
It blows my mind that still to this day many self improvement and personal development sites use Vicary's 1957 experiment as proof that subliminal messages are effective.
Doing this only damages the case for using subliminals as a tool for self development and personal growth - because the truth is they do work and there is a mountain of modern scientific evidence to support that claim!
Research conducted by the University College London and studies conducted at the Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience and the UCL Department of Psychology have shown quite clearly just how powerful subliminal stimuli can be!
When you read the findings of Duke University's study into subliminal advertising and how effective it can be at swaying a person's preferences for one product over another you will understand that subliminal advertising is a real, tangible and effective form of manipulation!
Other research from the Netherlands and around the globe that has been carried out under clinical conditions by revered and well recognised scientific researchers shows conclusively that subliminal messages are registered and acted upon by the human brain.
So, my point is simple. Why keep mentioning the James Vicary experiment?
Whether you have witnessed the power of subliminal messages yourself and have firsthand experience of their effectiveness or you still hold onto the moot point that they do not work (regardless of the growing 20th and 21st Century scientific evidence) why mention James Vicary?
His experiment was probably never even undertaken and therefore it is no wonder no-one else can replicate his fictitious findings. Subliminal messages do work but they must be given under extremely specific conditions such as those adhered to in the best subliminal CDs.
So everyone who knows who effective subliminal messages are I ask you to please stop talking about the Vicary experiment. It only hurts the cause of subliminals.
To those guys who adamantly refuse to accept that subliminal stimuli can affect us in any way I ask you to also stop talking about James Vicary's illusionary experiment and at least attack the more modern clinical studies that are proving how effective subliminal messages really are!
If you would like to experience th epower of subliminal messages for yourself for freeyou can claim a free "Manifestation" subliminal MP3 by siigning up to a free personal development newsletter at Binaural Download.
"Thirsty? Drink Coca Cola."
As a result of using these subliminal messages Vicary claimed that sales of popcorn rose by 57.8% while coca cola sales rose by 18.1%.
Although his findings sparked a great deal of interest amongst scientists at the time (and the CIA - but that's a whole different story) it cause panic among politicians and the public at large.
Due to Vicary's claims that people could be manipulated by subliminal messages they were eventually banned from television, and radio advertising in Australia, the UK and the USA!
However, no-one was able to replicate Vicary's findings no matter how many times his experiment was duplicated. The reason for this became obvious when, many years later, Vicary admitted that he had made the whole thing up!
All his findings from the study were fabricated and many believe that the study did not even take place in the first place!
So, because Vicary lied about the effectiveness of subliminal messages in his experiment and due to the failure to produce any positive results when the experiment was duplicated most scientists held the view that subliminal messages do not work!
It blows my mind that still to this day many self improvement and personal development sites use Vicary's 1957 experiment as proof that subliminal messages are effective.
Doing this only damages the case for using subliminals as a tool for self development and personal growth - because the truth is they do work and there is a mountain of modern scientific evidence to support that claim!
Research conducted by the University College London and studies conducted at the Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience and the UCL Department of Psychology have shown quite clearly just how powerful subliminal stimuli can be!
When you read the findings of Duke University's study into subliminal advertising and how effective it can be at swaying a person's preferences for one product over another you will understand that subliminal advertising is a real, tangible and effective form of manipulation!
Other research from the Netherlands and around the globe that has been carried out under clinical conditions by revered and well recognised scientific researchers shows conclusively that subliminal messages are registered and acted upon by the human brain.
So, my point is simple. Why keep mentioning the James Vicary experiment?
Whether you have witnessed the power of subliminal messages yourself and have firsthand experience of their effectiveness or you still hold onto the moot point that they do not work (regardless of the growing 20th and 21st Century scientific evidence) why mention James Vicary?
His experiment was probably never even undertaken and therefore it is no wonder no-one else can replicate his fictitious findings. Subliminal messages do work but they must be given under extremely specific conditions such as those adhered to in the best subliminal CDs.
So everyone who knows who effective subliminal messages are I ask you to please stop talking about the Vicary experiment. It only hurts the cause of subliminals.
To those guys who adamantly refuse to accept that subliminal stimuli can affect us in any way I ask you to also stop talking about James Vicary's illusionary experiment and at least attack the more modern clinical studies that are proving how effective subliminal messages really are!
If you would like to experience th epower of subliminal messages for yourself for freeyou can claim a free "Manifestation" subliminal MP3 by siigning up to a free personal development newsletter at Binaural Download.
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