Why we buy crap we don't need.

Subliminal messages are everywhere in pop culture

Posted Thu Dec. 16, 13:02:36 PST 2004
By Gavin Cook of The Campanile

In the late 1950s, an experiment was performed that would affect the world, even though it went relatively unnoticed. In Fort Lee, New Jersey, a movie theater ran the messages "Eat Popcorn" and "Drink Coke" every five seconds throughout the movies they showed. In six weeks, the sales of Coca-Cola went up 18 percent while popcorn sales rose an astronomical 58 percent.

Why would moviegoers accept these advertisements and not simply storm out of the theater, annoyed and resolute not to purchase any soda or popcorn?

The reason is these messages were only flashed for three-tenths of a millisecond, or one 3000th of a second, a time that does not allow the moviegoer to consciously "see" the message.

This was the birth of subliminal messages and the beginning of a new era.

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