Even since ad man James Vicary declared he raised sales at concessions by flashing key words like “Drink Coca-Cola” during films in a New Jersey theater in 1957, consumers have been wary of “subliminal” advertising. No one, after all, wants to feel manipulated.
While Vicary turned out to be full of it—he could never replicate his data for curious observers and eventually admitted it was a hoax—both the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and the Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms (ATF) agency have provisions warning advertisers against any psychological funny business. That hasn’t stopped art departments or ad firms from staving off boredom (or trying to stir up controversy) with covert messages that might go unnoticed at first glance. Check out some of the most infamous hidden prompts:
1. FOOD NETWORK’S FLASH OF CONTROVERSY
During a 2007 episode of Iron Chef America, the 24-hour food channel became a delicious suspect in subliminal wrongdoing. Spliced into a chef showdown segment was a logo for McDonald’s, which flashed on the screen for a brief moment. After Internet investigators accused the company of burrowing even further into our impressionable brains, McDonald’s denied the claims, telling USA Today that “we don’t do subliminal advertising.” Food Network declared the screen shot a “technical error.”
2. PALMOLIVE’S SHOWER BUDDIES
A print ad for Palmolive’s foaming shower gel might have been designed with frenetic page-flipping magazine readers in mind. If you stop and take a moment to digest the ad, you’ll notice the woman’s forearm is considerably more masculine than the rest of her.
3. KFC’S DOLLAR SNACKER
When commercial footage is slowed to a crawl, it’s easy to spot a glaring addition to an otherwise conventional fried chicken sandwich. KFC grabbed some attention in 2008 for inserting a pretty clumsy-looking dollar bill in the lettuce for its KFC Snacker menu item. The company pulled a similar stunt in 2006, when they buried a code inside of a commercial for the Buffalo Snacker that could be redeemed for free food. The goal was to get viewers to stop speeding past commercials during DVR playback.
4. THE BOARD GAME INCIDENT
Television spots for the barely-remembered memory board game Hūsker Dū that aired in 1973 inserted a series of frames that read “Get It.” The game’s manufacturer, Premium Corp. of America, admitted a staff member had placed the images. The FCC fielded the incident, and subsequently condemned such tactics as being “contrary to the public interest”; it’s believed to be the first example of subliminal advertising on television. Then again, if anything had been truly subliminal prior to that, who would know?