Subliminal messages in advertising … and Disney cartoons?

A phallic shadow. The word “SEX” etched in ice. The American public has been bombarded with subliminal messages for decades, and the practice continues to this day.

In 1957, researchers James Vicary and Frances Thayer pioneered the concept of subliminal advertising in an experiment in which they inserted the subliminal messages “Hungry? Eat popcorn” and “Drink Coca-Cola” into film to increase product sales among moviegoers. Allegedly, the six-week experiment exposed 45,699 people to these subliminal messages, increasing sales of popcorn and Coca-Cola by 57.5 and 18.1 percent, respectively.

Below: A frame from the Vicary/Thayer experiment that started the subliminal messaging craze.

Word of the experiment caused a national uproar, with critics blasting the practice and advertisers scrambling to see if they could use subliminal messages to increase their own products’ sales.

Fast-forward to today. Subliminal messages are used in advertisements, self-help audio recordings, and — most disturbing of all — Disney cartoons for kids. But what are subliminal messages, and are they really able to influence people’s thoughts and behaviors?

What are subliminal messages?

Subliminal messages are words, images, and sounds placed into media below the threshold of conscious awareness. They might be single frames cut into a video, spoken words buried in an audio recording, or suggestive words and images cleverly hidden in still photos and drawings.

One of my favorite examples of subliminal advertising was a print ad for women’s underwear I found while researching the topic (subliminal advertising, not women’s underwear) for a college marketing class in 1990. The layout was classic Ogilvy style, with a large photo taking up the top two-thirds of the page and the headline and body copy below.

In the image, a woman clad in bra and panties leaned languidly out of her bedroom window on a moonlit night. The subliminal part? The window curtain, which billowed dramatically into the room from the right-hand side of the scene, took on the profile of a delicately upturned breast — the only part of the woman left unseen as she faced out the window.

I don’t know what effect this subliminal image was intended to have, aside from providing some subconscious titillation — but I recognized it immediately for what it was.

Here is an infamous print ad for Gilbey’s gin that not-so-subtly hides the word “SEX” in ice cubes:

What would be the point of this, you ask? I imagine the goal is to stir something in the unconscious mind, increasing the “stickiness” of the ad so that the brand and the suggestion to buy stays with the reader for longer.

Do subliminal messages work?

Although experts have debated the effectiveness of subliminal messaging for decades — and even James Vicary himself eventually retracted his story and his alleged results — recent studies have shown that subliminal messaging may indeed have the potential to influence people’s behavior.

For example, a 2002 study conducted by researchers at Princeton University revealed that when 12 frames of the word “thirsty” and 12 frames of an image of a Coca-Cola can were embedded into an episode of The Simpsons, the test group rated themselves as 27 percent thirstier after the show than before it, despite being unaware of the message that had been added.

In contrast, subjects in the control group, who were shown plain white frames instead of the subliminal words and images, rated themselves as marginally less thirsty after the show.

Four years later, in 2006, researchers at Utrecht University and Radboud University in the Netherlands demonstrated that study participants who were subliminally primed with the words “Lipton Ice” were more likely to choose Lipton iced tea than the other drink used in the study.

More recently, imaging studies have showed that subliminal messages can induce measurable physiological effects to the emotional and memory centers of the brain. Researchers were especially surprised to find that subliminal messages correlated to enhanced activity within the insula, the part of the brain involved in conscious awareness.

Subliminal messages in sound

In 1999, researchers conducted tests in a British supermarket in which they changed the store music to influence sales of French and German wine. The results showed that when German music was played, sales of the German wine increased and it sold better. Likewise, when French music played, the French wine sold better.

Purists might say the music in this experiment was supraliminal rather than subliminal because it was heard by everyone. But it’s close enough for me, as surveys taken by the shoppers after their visits showed that they seemed quite unconscious of the effect the music had had on their behavior.

Another example of consciously detectable stimuli includes the music played over the loudspeakers at restaurants. Some restaurants purposefully play upbeat music to influence their customers to eat more quickly, causing them to finish sooner and make way for new customers, which of course helps the restaurant increase its revenue.

The verdict on subliminal messages

Today, researchers generally agree that subliminal messages cannot make people take actions they were not already inclined to do. But the next time you encounter a subliminal message that speaks to an inclination you already have, you could be nudged to do the thing it suggests.

Examples of subliminal messages in advertising

The following video shows many examples of subliminal messages, not only in advertising, but also in Disney films. If you thought you saw a lot of sex organs in my blog post on bad logo designs, well, you ain’t seen nothing yet!

Subliminal messages in Disney films and cartoons

Believe it or not, Disney has a long history of using subliminal and subversive messages in its movies and kids’ toys.

Below, Disney tries its own hand at carving the word “SEX” in ice:

The 1977 Disney film The Rescuers infamously included a couple of frames showing a woman’s bare breasts:

Do you notice anything odd about this promotional poster for The Lion King?

Or how about the photographs of butts and other body parts taken by young Lilo in this scene from Disney’s Lilo and Stitch?

See if you can spot the sex organ outlined in the shape of Minnie’s dress.

via GIPHY

Here is Donald Duck ostensibly trying to get a “rock” out of his sleeping bag so he can get to sleep.

Did you know that Walt Disney was rumored to be a 33rd-degree Freemason? Perhaps that is the reason behind the name of Club 33, Disney’s string of ultra-exclusive private dining clubs, and why so many Disney movies contain Illuminati signs and symbols:

Take special note of the “All-Seeing Eye” (eye within a pyramid) that shows up so frequently; the Masonic columns and checkerboard flooring; and other occult symbolism.

But wait, there’s more.

See those blue triangles all over Chief Zephyr from the Disney Channel animated series Elena of Avalor?

Why do they bear such a close resemblance to the well-known pedophile symbol for “boy lover” seen in this FBI intelligence bulletin? (Click the image below for a larger view, and use the Back button on your browser to return to this page.)

Here they are again:

And again:

All of a sudden, the subliminal design of this Mickey Mouse microphone toy starts to make sense:

And this Frozen bubble blower:

Oh, and let’s not forget Buzz Lightyear:

Finally, there’s this:

Oof. No wonder so many “conspiracy theorists” are convinced that Disney has a dark side.

(If you’d like to go further down the Disney rabbit hole, you’ll find plenty to keep you busy. Be sure to use a search engine such as Qwant or Brave that won’t censor or suppress information like Google does. And whatever you do, be careful. Do NOT use search terms related to children that will land you on an FBI watch list!)

Share your thoughts on “Subliminal messages in advertising … and Disney cartoons?”

Wow, Cranky readers. That got weird, didn’t it? I’m sorry, but I didn’t make the world — I just lament it. As I replied to one reader in my last blog post, “This is why companies are pushing LGBTQ+,” the real world beneath the veneer we mistake for reality is likely darker and more sad than most can imagine.

But that’s just what I think. What do you think about subliminal messages — in advertising, movies, music, and all the rest? Let us hear your thoughts, and by all means, if you know of any other good examples of subliminal messaging out in the wild, please share them below!

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