Starbucks 'Trenta': How The New Size Compares To Your Stomach
Famous Death Row Last Meals
These days, advertising tends to be on a very obvious (superliminal) level. By this, I mean that most broadcasters make no effort to conceal the fact that they're being paid (or compensated in some way) to promote a product. The show Top Chef, for example, frequently refers to the "Kenmore kitchen" provided by its sponsors and repeatedly uses brand names from other companies. This type of advertising really gets a brand name out into the public arena, but some still believe that sneakier tactics are in order to get the public to try their products and would prefer to use subliminal advertising than superliminal, believing that the subconscious mind has a greater impact on human behavior.
This YouTube video clip reveals an example of subliminal advertising that a viewer found on the Food Network during a broadcast of Iron Chef America. The ad, which is for McDonald's, is only about one frame of film long, but is still noticeable to the conscious mind as a red flash on the screen.
Of course, it could have been a broadcasting glitch and not a purposefully placed advertisement. But that might just be what they want you to think....
[via something awful - thanks, Berkana!]
PHOTOS: How You Can Get The 'Miracle' Dress
Broke Stars: 11 Celebrities Who Went Bankrupt
LOOK: Amazing Underwater Photos Of Dogs
Adele Five-Year Break? Singer Plans to Focus on Relationship, Write 'Happy Record'
Social Security Is Failing Even Faster Than We Thought
Jane Seymour's Modest And Modern Style
Man Says Starbucks Discriminated Against Him Because He Has Half An Arm
Chris Brown, Grammys 2012: Embattled Singer Slams Critics
Janice Dickinson's Outrageous Style
Ford's clever Sports Illustrated Swimsuit ad features phantom model
Trace Adkins Reunites With College Crush, 30 Years Later
Lauren Scruggs Goes On Ski Vacation
Van Gogh's Starry Night modded into beautiful interactive light and sound show (video)
'Hooker Teacher' Forced To Resign, Now Can't Find Work
WATCH AND LAUGH: Cops In 2-Hour Standoff With Empty Car
3 Economic Misconceptions That Need to Die
PHOTOS: Model Falls At Dennis Basso Show
Best In Show Winner Declared
WATCH: Saint VaLINtine Hits Game-Winning Shot
PHOTOS: Michelle Obama Wears Jason Wu For Target!
WATCH: Amazon Withholds Money From Blooming Florist
PHOTOS: Cute Overload?
LOOK: The Last Of The Cave People
We Meant There WERE Nukes In The Fire
Honduras Prison Fire Kills At Least 300 Inmates
Scuba Diver Had Motive To Drown Wife On Honeymoon, Prosecutor Says
Reports: Iran Stops Oil Exports To 6 European Countries
Denise Richards' Casual Style
Style Icon Dies After Collapsing At Fashion Show
Huguely Lied On The Night His Ex-Girlfriend Died, Lacrosse Teammate Says
'Game Of Thrones' Season 2 Teaser: War Is Coming
Hidden In The Open: A Photographic Essay Of African-American Male Couples
1-22-2007 @1:43PM Carolyn said... That burns me up. Isn't subliminal advertising illegal? Is this how low Food Network will go?
Reply
1-22-2007 @2:18PM martin said... it was clearly accidental. and even if it wasnt, why should it be illegal? we need big brother telling the food network how they are allowed to advertise?
Reply
1-22-2007 @2:33PM david Frank said... as a person who works in TV, i can tell you this is soooo unlikely to be a "mistake"
Reply
1-22-2007 @2:38PM dlz said... that's too long to be a subliminal. video frames are approx 1/72 of a second (film is 1/24) and would not be that easily noticed. i'm going with it being a mistake.
also, it's more likely to be the cable network's doing as they have more control over inserting advertising accidentally. to have the food network consciously work to insert a single frame ad and think they wouldn't get caught seems ridiculous.
as for the legality, my understanding was that subliminal advertising works agaist the will of the individual viewer by implanting an idea, concept, desire, whatever into their subconscious. to those who don't understand the importance of legislating against such things i propose we allow politicians to insert subliminals into their ads. or state of the union addresses.
suddenly the president has a 100% approval rating!
Reply
1-22-2007 @2:39PM Pete said... This is a terrible direction for the Food Network to go....if it were advertising for something GOOD, like fresh fish, exotic fruit, scotch, that's one thing, but to sublimate the audience with ads for the anti-food arches, it's disgusting (almost as bad as showing Emeril and Rachel for most of the day.
There aughta be a petition to let them know how I fee. ACtually I could care less...now that the Travel Chennel is doing cool food shows, I don;t really watch the Food Network anymore, except Good Eats.
Reply
1-22-2007 @7:59PM Justin said... Is it possible that this is a form of advertising meant to get the attention if people recording the program on DVR or other recording devices?
I've heard of several commercials where it is a static image for the length of the commercial with a voice over so that even if you are fast forwarding through it, you'll see the company logo or message, even though you don't hear the voice over. Maybe this is somehow related to that.
Reply
1-22-2007 @3:18PM Daniel Burns said... First, video runs at 29 frames per second. 29.97 to be precise.
Second, If you notice subliminal advertising, it isn't subliminal, is it? This was very noticable.
Did they do it on purpose? Probably. Does it matter? Probably not. 1 frame of the McDonald's logo flashing before me during a show I am watching, is NOT going to influence me to eat that garbage anyway.
Calm down folks, I think everything is going to be ok.
Reply
1-22-2007 @4:02PM plumpy said... Subliminal advertising is a hoax. It doesn't work. The original studies that talked about it were designed to sell a product that produced subliminal messages. But they were all faked and peer-reviewed scientific studies can not reproduce the effects.
There is ample documentation about this, but here are a few links to get you started:
http://www.snopes.com/business/hidden/popcorn.asp
http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a1_187.html
I should think anyone in marketing knows about this, and I doubt they'd waste the money and potential public backlash to try it. I'd say it was a glitch.
Reply
1-22-2007 @8:10PM Jeff said... I'd say the advertisement worked if it got even lowly blog readers to argue about it. ;)
Reply
1-22-2007 @8:04PM Berkana said... I don't think this was accidental: McDonalds was one of the sponsors of Iron Chef for this particular episode.
Reply
1-23-2007 @11:11AM Daniel Burns said... Lowly? Speak for yourself there, Francis.
Reply
1-23-2007 @9:35AM Zelnox said... I remember watching Top Chef season 1 and seeing so much product placements. I think the most obvious example was when Stephen said something along the lines of "I spent last night searching for information on AOL"... AOL?
Reply
1-24-2007 @2:21PM kate said... they got you talking about them didn't they?
Reply
1-25-2007 @9:03PM ASaucyGal said... Just FYI, Top Chef is not a Food Network Show. It is a Bravo show, and they make no secrets about having Kenmore as a paying sponsor for their series. Likewise, Project Runway has the TRESsame salon, the L'Oreal hair and makeup salon, the Banana Republic Competition. It's no different than the paid product placements in movies, think the action adventure genre hyping nokia phones, Apple notebooks, mini cooper cars, or what have you.
I agree, that clip was too long to be "subliminal" but it is apparently a way to get people who usually fast forward through 30 second commercials, spend 5 minutes slow mo ing through each frame looking for an "insidious mind warping message"...
Reply
1-25-2007 @9:06PM ENDY said... Are we sure that this YouTube video wasn't altered? That the person didn't ADD the ad to create a story that wasn't there? Wouldn't be the first time, not sure I trust this 'viewer' as much as I would trust Food Network, which I have found to have wholesome shows. I never have to worry about what the kids see either in the shows themselves OR from their ads, unlike network TV which I have to monitor constantly so the kids do not see ads that are as inappropriate for children as the prime time shows themselves are.
No... I think the "something" that's not right here is the uploaded & submitted video.
Reply
1-25-2007 @9:04PM rich said... Its called product placement. Ever watch American Idol and notice the Coke cups? Ever watch a movie?
Companies pay to have their products placed in whatever form of media your heart desires.
Or maybe the FoodNetwork is filmed at Area 51.
If Kenmore gives TopChef free kitchen appliances,
shouldnt they get the right to have their product named? Only 6 people watch that show anyway. Do you
think 6 people not buying Kenmore products is going to cause them financial hardship? I buy GE appliances
because thats what the Munsters used.
Reply
1-25-2007 @9:12PM ENDY said... Ok... appending my comment... as ASaucyGal pointed out... the show was TOP CHEF on Bravo... NOT "Iron Chef" which is on Food Network... way to pay attention ASaucyGal!! As to Bravo, I don't know the network enough to guess if this was accidental, on purpose, or not done at all which leads back to my first thought that perhaps it's the YouTube video that can't be trusted.
Reply
1-25-2007 @9:13PM jennifer carlson said... LOL..while it was only actually banned in the UK, it's considered an unacceptable practice by the FTC. As other's have pointed out it' been proven it doesn't work anyway. So it's unlikely that the foodnetwork and McDonalds (because, like, they aren't making any money and are desperate to bring in customers....) would risk a possible FTC fine on something proven ineffective. Most time the simple answer is the most obvious, human error. But that's not sexy enough for conspiracy buffs! Bur really, it sounds like the some folks need to go back to looking for all those naked women in ice cubes and the word sex spelled backwards in cereal...
Reply
1-25-2007 @9:24PM margorita said... You gotta be smarter than televison. I don't care how many subliminals they throw in there, I won't eat McDonalds. And this is just another reason why.
Reply
1-25-2007 @9:22PM mj said... What bull. Did you know that when you see products used by the 'chefs,' that every label is a phoney? The brands, etc, are all fake. This is so there is no product placing. If say, Alton, is in a store, yes, the store name is mentioned, but no actual product names are shown.
Reply