Subliminal Advertising: The Use Of Advertising In Movies

The use of advertising in movies has been a fairly new concept when comparing to how long movies have actually been around. The official term for advertising in movies is referred to as subliminal advertising or product placement.

The first use of subliminal advertising dates back to 1957 when a market researcher named James Vicary placed the words “Eat Popcorn” and “Drink Coca-Cola” into movies of a cinema in New Jersey. Vicary claimed that the use of these subliminal messages actually increased the sales of popcorn and Coca-Cola. Vicary claimed that the experiment created an 18.1% increase in coke sales and a 57.8% increase in popcorn sales. This experiment caused a massive uproar, people believed that this type of subliminal advertising

Each participant was flashed a word on the screen for a fraction of a second. The word could have been in three different categories (Good, bad or neutral). After they were shown the word the participants were asked if they felt that the word was neutral or “emotional.” The researchers found that the participants answered most accurately when responding to negative words, even when they thought that they were just guessing a choice. The researchers concluded that negative words have a bigger more rapid impact on the brain than “Good” words. A perfect example of this use would be the phrase “Kill your speed” opposed to saying “Slowdown.” Another example of this effect would be competitors pointing out the negative qualities of each other as opposed to the company using their own selling points to boost their reputation. Although product placement and subliminal advertising aren’t officially regulated by the Federal Communications Commission they are monitored to make sure that movies or advertisements aren’t subliminally displaying something that could potentially harm the wellbeing of the

Coke is one of the most versatile brands for product placement. Coke brand product placement can range from anything to just drinking Coke to Coca-Cola refrigerators and coolers. Coca-Cola Product placement wasn’t originally pursued by the company. It was a placed in many scenes organically because the film makers believed that it “truly belonged” in the frame. Coca-Cola product placement eventually got so big that the company set up an office in Los Angeles to authenticate coke reference in different films. One of the brands most notable film roles was in the 1982 movie E.T. where the main character is seen opening a can of coke. Coke isn’t just an American brand it is also a global brand, where it is depicted in many foreign films just as frequently as American