Does subliminal advertising work?

First Posted: Jan 20, 2015

Does subliminal advertising actually work?
This is a very interesting subject and one we cover on the Hypnotherapy Diploma Course run by Hypnotic Solutions Training.

In the 1950's James Vicary conducted a study on whether repeatedly flashing the slogans "Drink Coca-Cola" and "Eat popcorn" throughout a movie would increase the sales of these products. Initially he claimed sales of popcorn and Coke both increased. This, he declared, was "subliminal advertising". But his findings were premature.

The BBC have written an article Does Subliminal Advertising Work? and they also decided to carry out their own research - click on the link for more details and to find out the results.

On an associated matter, many hypnotherapists use subliminal hypnotherapy tapes/cds/mp3s, where the client listens to a piece of music on which there has been recorded some subliminal messages (ie the vocal track is at such a quiet level that one cannot consciously hear what the words are). The question I ask is whether the client can benefit from listening to these if she doesn't know what the messages are? I'm sure you will have you own opinion on this, which has been the subject of many a discussion in the classroom.