Do subliminal messages really work?
A. This has long been open to much debate. The original study conducted by James Vicary in 1957 that demonstrated that consumers would by more cola and popcorn was later found to be fraudulent. Many opponents to the effectiveness of subliminal’s claimed this was evidence that they do not work. Since then further studies have been conducted which have proven that subliminal images can indeed influence the choice of a consumer, or the emotional state of an observer. In a BBC documentary on the power of the brain two twin sisters where given an experiment to see how reading words would affect their emotional state, and their behavior. It documented very conclusively how powerful being exposed to certain words can be. Perhaps the most extreme example of the power of subliminal influence can be found in the work of Darren Brown, the famous English mind magician. In one show he demonstrated how with the correct use of emotional anchoring and subliminal triggering he was able to get some norm
