“How a Publicity Blitz Created The Myth of Subliminal Advertising”, 1992-12-01 (; backlinks; similar):
[’Subliminal advertising’ was the Cambridge Analytica of the 1950s.] In September 1957, I began what to me was a serious study of contemporary applied psychology at Hofstra College in Hempstead, Long Island. At exactly the same time, in nearby New York City, an unemployed market researcher named James M. Vicary made a startling announcement based on research in high-speed photography later popularized by Eastman Kodak Company.
His persuasive sales pitch was that consumers would comprehend information projected at 1/ 60,000th of a second, although they could not literally “see” the flash. And he sent a news release to the major media announcing his “discovery”.
…And, as a follow-up, toward the end of 1957 Vicary invited 50 reporters to a film studio in New York where he projected some motion picture footage, and claimed that he had also projected a subliminal message. He then handed out another of his well written and nicely printed news releases claiming that he had actually conducted major research on how an invisible image could cause people to buy something even if they didn’t want to.
The release said that in an unidentified motion picture theater a “scientific test” had been conducted in which 45,699 persons unknowingly had been exposed to 2 advertising messages projected subliminally on alternate nights. One message, the release claimed, had advised the moviegoers to “Eat Popcorn” while the other had read “Drink Coca-Cola.”
…Vicary swore that the invisible advertising had increased sales of popcorn an average of 57.5%, and increased the sales of Coca-Cola an average of 18.1%. No explanation was offered for the difference in size of the percentages, no allowance was made for variations in attendance, and no other details were provided as to how or under what conditions the purported tests had been conducted. Vicary got off the hook for his lack of specificity by stating that the research information formed part of his patent application for the projection device, and therefore must remain secret. He assured the media, however, that what he called “sound statistical controls” had been employed in the theater test. At least as importantly, too, he had observed the proven propagandist’s ploy of using odd numbers, and also including a decimal in a percentage. The figures 57.5 and 18.1% rang with a clear tone of Truth.
…When I learned of Vicary’s claim, I made the short drive to Fort Lee to learn first-hand about his clearly remarkable experiment.
The size of that small-town theater suggested it should have taken considerably longer than 6 weeks to complete a test of nearly 50,000 movie patrons. But even more perplexing was the response of the theater manager to my eager questioning. He declared that no such test had ever been conducted at his theater.
There went my term paper for my psychology class.
Soon after my disappointment, Motion Picture Daily reported that the same theater manager had sworn to one of its reporters that there had been no effect on refreshment stand patronage, whether a test had been conducted or not—a rather curious form of denial, I think.
…Technological Impossibility: Vicary also informed the reporters that subliminal advertising would have its “biggest initial impact” on the television medium.
When I learned of this, I visited the engineering section of RCA…I was assured by their helpful and knowledgeable engineering liaison man that, because of the time required for an electron beam to scan the surface of a television picture tube, and the persistence of the phosphor glow, it was technologically impossible to project a television image faster than the human eye could perceive.
“In a nighttime scene on television, watch the way the image of a car’s headlights lingers; that’s called comet-tailing”, the engineer explained. “See how long it takes before the headlights fade away.” Clearly there was no way that even the slower tachistoscope speeds of 1/3,000th of a second that Vicary had begun talking about in early 1958 could work on contemporary television.
…It has been estimated he collected retainer and consulting fees from America’s largest advertisers totaling some $37.1$4.51958 million—about $55.9$22.51992 million in today’s dollars.
Then, some time in June 1958, Mr. Vicary disappeared from the New York marketing scene, reportedly leaving no bank accounts, no clothes in his closet, and no hint as to where he might have gone. The big advertisers, apparently ashamed of having been fooled by such an obvious scam, have said nothing since about subliminal advertising, except to deny that they have ever used it.