Free Dominion :: Subliminal Attack

A subliminal message is a signal or message designed to pass below the normal limits of perception. For example it might be an image transmitted briefly and unperceived consciously and yet perceived unconsciously.

1.2 What kind of subliminal messages are there?

Subliminal messages can be in the same form as any regular message. They can be a picture, text or auditory message, or a combination of those types. For the purposes of this F.A.Q, we use the term 'subliminal image' to refer to subliminal pictures without text.

1.3 Is subliminal perception real?

Yes.

"Another way in which subliminal perception has been demonstrated in controlled laboratory studies is by showing that stimuli can be perceived even when they are presented under conditions that make it difficult if not impossible to distinguish one stimulus from another stimulus."

-Philip M. Merikle, Professor of Cognitive Neuroscience, University of Waterloo in A. E. Kazdin (Ed.), Encyclopedia of Psychology (Vol. 7, pp. 497-499). New York: Oxford University Press, 2000.

1.4 What effect do subliminal images have?

"the findings from controlled studies indicate that subliminal perception, when it occurs, reflects a person's usual interpretations of stimuli."

-Philip M. Merikle, Professor of Cognitive Neuroscience, University of Waterloo in A. E. Kazdin (Ed.), Encyclopedia of Psychology (Vol. 7, pp. 497-499). New York: Oxford University Press, 2000

2.1 Is there really a subliminal image in the Liberal ad?

Yes there is. The image below shows three consecutive frames from the ad:

James Hendricks, a reporter and news anchor with The New RO (CHRO TV) verified it using the TV station's equipment, and the president of the ad firm admits it is deliberately there (see 2.3)

2.2 Can I find it myself, or do I have to take your word for it?

It is very easy to check for yourself. All you need is QuickTime Player installed on your computer. Then follow these steps:

1. The ad is no longer on liberal.ca but you can download an exact copy to your hard drive by right clicking on this link and selecting 'Save Target As'.

2. Open Quicktime Player. Open the File menu and select 'Open Movie in New Player'.

3. In the Open dialogue box, change the value in the 'Files of type' field to 'MPEG Files'

4. Navigate to the copy of the ad you saved on your computer and open it.

5. Use the key to advance through the ad frame by frame.

6. At about the 8 second mark you have the last frame with the gun in it

just one more tap on the key and you get

and the very next frame is

If you pay real close attention, you can see that just before the subliminal muzzle flash the gun is raised slightly as if to take aim at you.

Below is a clip from the ad that shows the aiming and firing of the gun. It is only 7 frames long so I slowed it down to make it visible. The sequence has not been edited in any other way. In the ad this whole sequence would be just over 2/10 of a second long. The muzzle flash itself would only be 3/100 of a second.

2.3 Could this be accidental, or a 'flash cut'?

No.

"If we had let it go a few more frames, you would have seen the bullet."

- Jack Bensimon, president of Bensimon-Byrne (the Firm that produced the ad) in 'Ad firm fires back over charges'. Ottawa Citizen, 15 June 2004

2.4 Is it really a subliminal image?

If you didn’t notice the gun going off, that alone is proof that the image was subliminal. Nobody in the media mentioned the firing of the gun before I pointed it out, and even those who felt that pointing the gun went too far didn’t realize just how far it actually went.

2.5 Urban legend sites say subliminal advertising doesn't work, so what's the big deal?

With subliminal advertising, the advertising is contained in the subliminal image. That is a different case than an ad that contains a subliminal image.

As you can see in the answers to 1.2 and 1.3, it has been shown that subliminal images are perceived subconsciously and that people react to them in the same way they would if they consciously perceived the same information. So flashing a quick advertisement or set of instructions won't change your mind or actions any more than regular advertising with the same content.

Pictures, subliminal or not, can evoke emotional reactions however. In the movie 'The Exorcist', gruesome subliminal images were used to elevate the amount of fear felt by the audience. Since the viewers were not aware of subconscious images, they attributed that fear to the part of the movie they were aware of. They did not have the information they needed to rationally evaluate the all the causes of their emotional reactions.

This is also what the Liberal ad does. The bright muzzle flash is unexpected and contrasts sharply with the surrounding images. It startles, it surprises and causes a measure of fear to arise as well, but the context encourages the viewer to assume that their fear comes from what is said, rather than what they subconsciously saw.

2.6 Why can I only see it in the QuickTime version?

The Windows Media version displays less than 30 frames per second, so that one frame with the muzzle flash is not in that file. The QuickTime version does show 30 frames per second, just like your television. It is also very easy to step through a video file frame by frame using QuickTime player

3.1 Is it legal to have advertisements with subliminal images in them?

There is no law against it, but it does violate the ethics code of the Canadian Broadcast Standards Council.

3.2 What can I do about it?

Now that the election is over, about all that can be done is to encourage the the CBSC to take action that would discourage future ads of this nature, and to petition your Member of Parliment to outlaw all forms of subliminal advertising.

3.3 Did any other Liberal ads have subliminal images?

Following the exposure of the subliminal image in this ad, all subsequent ads were released on the Internet in a format of such low quality that it was not possible to determine with certainty if they had a subliminal image or not. Not only was the video of much poorer quality, but it only showed 12 to 15 frames per second. Television stations would be able to check their broadcast copy, but there is no indication any of them did.

It is possible that the changes in the file quality are a deliberate attempt to cover up the use of another subliminal image (and remember, the president of the firm defended the content of the first ad) or they might have just wanted to save server resources by making the files smaller.

UPDATE:

More than a year has passed and it seems the CBSC has not released a decision on this issue.

I was originally informed that it usually takes about 6 months to process a complaint. I was also told their mandate is with the broadcasters, not the advertisers, yet there are other decisions listed regarding the content of advertisements. It seems unlikely that the Liberal party will suffer any consequence from this.