Congress and the Federal Trade Commission held hearings on subliminal communications. Congress beefed up the space exploration program and quickly passed the National Defense Education Act to enhance science education. Read the Materials introduced into the Congressional Record on January 28, 1958, concerning subliminal telecasts.Īlmost simultaneously, the US government turned its attention to both these issues.
It seemed to many that the world was being bombarded from many directions-from the Soviets who were ahead of the US into space, and from those attempting to colonize the inner workings of human consciousness. 5Īs this issue of The Saturday Review was in press, in fact the day before its publication date of October 5th, the Soviet Union launched Sputnik I, marking the beginning of the space age and the USA-USSR space race. There is only one kind of regulation or ruling that could possibly make any sense in this case and that would be to take this invention and everything connected to it and attach it to the center of the next nuclear explosive scheduled for testing. Cousins himself denounced the subconscious assault in the strongest terms: Cousins warned his readers of the ominous prospects of subliminal communications.Ĭousins noted that Vicary claimed to be aware of the potentially dangerous uses of subliminal communication, had suggested warning the public when subliminal techniques were in use, and even seemed to think that some sort of governmental regulation might be needed. Norman Cousins, the influential editor of The Saturday Review, addressed his readers in the Octoissue: "Welcome to 1984." He referred, of course, to the nightmarish world described by George Orwell in the novel 1984, in which a totalitarian government monitors the private, inner thoughts of its citizens and watches over their every move. The magazine treated subliminal advertising as fact and discussed its potential not only in selling but also in gaining support for anti-litter campaigns and even promoting political candidates. You've probably fallen for these coded messages without even realizing it.Life Used This Image to Explain Subliminal Advertising to an Interested Public 4 There aren't laws against ads with hidden messages, so it's perfectly acceptable for advertising executives to put subliminal advertising in action. Of course, being a slave to corporations and banks isn't as nefarious as it sounds, but that doesn't mean capitalist subliminal messages embedded in public spaces aren't ethically questionable. What better way is there to celebrate Christmas, for instance, than to share a coke with someone you love? Wait, does Coke have anything to do with Jesus? Why would you drink cold soda when it's freezing outside? What are those polar bears doing? Are they going to eat Santa? This is a trick of association, not mind-control, but real examples of subliminal advertising are more prevalent than you might think. Popular brands use subliminal advertising to ensure consumer loyalty, hopefully across multiple generations. And coded messages in advertisements keep dutiful, unwoke consumers coming back to the trough for more slop every time a fresh batch is whipped up.
The desire of the consumer changes the make up of society, not always for the better, as conscious consumerism is an unwelcome value. Jobs disappear from wealthy nations only to reappear in poor ones, so those who own companies can drive down cost and increase profit.
Annual holidays revolve around it, children are reared on the dogma of corporate product, those in developing nations spend disposable income on products made by those in developing nations. Consumer culture drives and directs global society.