We had a bit of a debate over whether the McDonald's ad that flashed on screen during an episode of Iron Chef America was the Food Network's attempt at subliminal advertising or simply a very poorly edited piece of filming. It turns out, according to a statement released by the network, that it was just a glitch.
A network spokesman said, "It was a technical error on our part and not a subliminal message as suggested by a Web site running the slow-motion playback. It has been corrected for all future airings [of that episode]." A McDonald's spokesman said, "We don't do subliminal advertising."
Those excuses are both weak. Every product placement in a movie or TV show is certainly near enough to subliminal advertising (a McD's cup in the hand of a background extra, etc) that denying it seems ridiculous. And for the Network to have aired a split-second clip in the middle of footage from another show is so unlikely that it is far easier to believe the network intended it to air. It's also possible that they just have a poorly trained staff, but an actual technical glitch? Probably not.

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1-27-2007 @5:55PM George said... Anyone who's worked in video knows this is very likely a glitch. Every TV channel has to orchestrate what shows, ads, promos are on and at what time. It's very easy to accidentally flip to a different video feed, especially given a lot of the transitions and ordering of shows/ads/promos is automated with software. Happens on the radio as well (you hear a promo that starts playing while the announcer is still talking).
Why is Slashfood propagating rumor and myth here? Is it really that slow of a food-news day?
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1-27-2007 @6:26PM Aaron said... The flash wasn't even subliminal.
Everyone I know who saw it, identified it as being the Mcdonald's logo.
Subliminal means you don't realize that you saw or heard it.
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1-27-2007 @7:33PM Zillionaire said... Anybody who's worked in video would know that the likelihood of another ad being cued up to the logo and being taken at that exact moment is less than likely. It could've been some sausage fingers in the control room, but I very much doubt it with the timing (i.e. brevity of the "glitch") and the fact that it was very clear graphic as opposed to a random snippet of another commercial. This was not a matter of "the wrong video feed."
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1-27-2007 @10:51PM david Frank said... @George - read what Zillionaire said
@Zillionaire - thank you for speaking some sense
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1-27-2007 @11:07PM Matt said... Not only that, if you watch the show, that *exact same McDonald's logo* appeared in the upper-left hand corner "sponsoring" the Iron Chef scores just seconds before the glitch. There's plenty of evidence if you'll look.
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2-01-2007 @3:27PM Brian said... Seriously people.
SUBliminal...
that one second flash was superliminal.
my bet, the corner graphic accidently got fullscreened. They called it a glitch, because they already fired the R-tard who did it. I've seen it 10 times now, and I don't want fries any more now than a month ago.
jesus. I have crapped more interesting things that made me hungry for McDonalds. You all need to drop the "controversy"
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