9. Have You Ever Heard Of Subliminal Advertising?
In the 1980s, Wilson Bryan Key and Vance Packard published very influential books claiming that moviemakers and theater companies were using subliminal advertising to imprint messages into people’s minds. By flashing messages on the screen so quickly that your conscious brain does not even register them, they claimed that moviemakers controlled people’s minds and forced them to want to buy certain products. The public outcry about subliminal advertising became so intense that there were even court cases about it. Moreover, how would we know if it were true or not? They won’t tell us one way or another.
Ultimately, the whole thing was dismissed as a hoax; while people’s minds can conjure up ideas about whatever they want to, there was no evidence that a flash on a screen was more influential than a full-length commercial. Nevertheless, who wants to believe that they are craving junk food and getting fat because they are watching television all day and not exercising? No, what is far more comfortable is to believe that powerful companies control your mind and force you to drink yourself diabetic with soda. It sounds more like an excuse than anything.