영화 한 편을 보고 인간의 가치관이 오락가락 하기도 한다(출처: 이재오 의원 트위터).

‘서브리미널’은 서브(sub: 아래)와 리멘(limen: 識閾)의 합성어로 인간의 감각이 느끼지 못할 정도의 정신적 자극을 주어 잠재의식(潛在意識)에 무언가를 각인시키는 것을 의미한다.

이 같은 이유로 서브리미널 광고의 경우 국내에서도 아래와 같이 사용이 금지되어 있다.

<방송광고심의에 관한 규정’의 방송통신심의위원회규칙 제79호 제15조(잠재의식광고의 제한)에 명시된 방송광고는 시청자가 의식할 수 없는 음향이나 화면으로 잠재의식에 호소하는 방식을 사용하여서는 아니된다>

2차 대전 당시 독일의 나치(Nazi)가 인간의 잠재의식을 적극 활용했다. 괴벨스는 “99개의 거짓과 1개의 진실을 섞으면, 진실만을 얘기할 때보다 더 효과적”이라고 했다.

진실의 확산속도는 공산주의자들의 주특기인 거짓말과 비교해 그 속도가 상당히 느리다. 여기에는 공산주의자들이 사용하는 심리전(서브리미널 효과)도 큰 몫을 차지하고 있다.

러시아 공산혁명 지도자 레닌(Lenin)은 공산주의 추종세력들을 향해 “혁명의 성공적 수행을 위해서는 용어를 혼란시켜야 한다”고 했다. 레닌은 또《사회민주주의의 두 가지 전술》에서“동일한 사안이라도 동지와 적을 대할 때 각각 구분해서 용어를 사용하라. 적에 대해서는 가능한 한 부정적인 용어·언어를 구사해 비판하고, 동지에 대해서는 우호적이고 순화된 용어·언어를 사용하였을 때 선전선동에 유리하고 혁명이란 목표달성에 효과적”이라고 말했다.

용어혼란전술은 언어를 통한 ‘영향(影響)공작’의 일종으로 일반 大衆이 선호하고 긍정적으로 받아들이는 용어를 사용해, 공산주의를 우호적으로 생각하도록 만드는 ‘저강도 심리전’이라 할 수 있다. 右派는 진실의 확산을 위해 ‘서브리미널 효과’를 사용해볼 필요가 있다. (2003년 9월23일)

[2] 한국의 방송은 이미 오래 전에 從北세력의 선전선동 도구로 전락했다. 이들 방송이 대한민국 국민을 세뇌하는 방식은 아주 간단하다. 몇 가지 역사적 사례를 들어 본다.
 
  ▲1956년 심리학자 제임스 비커리는 인간의 잠재의식을 통제하는 실험을 했었다. 그가 고안한 실험은 영화 화면에 5분마다 1/3000초 동안 'Hungry? Eat Pop-Corn'(배고프세요? 팝콘을 드세요!), 또는 'Drink Coca-cola'(마시자! 코카콜라)라는 메시지를 몰래 넣는 것이었다. 결과는 매우 놀라웠다. 메시지를 비춘 6주 동안의 판매고는 팝콘이 57.5% , 코카콜라가 18% 올랐다.
 
  ▲의료전자학 연구가인 할 H. 렉커 박사는 보는 사람이 의식하지 못하는 가운데 영상을 통해 메시지를 두뇌에 집어넣을 수 있는 ‘테키스토스코프’를 개발했다. 그리고 그는 이것을 좀 더 개량해 ‘검은 상자’(Black Box)라는 이름으로 시장에 내 놓았다. 슈퍼마켓에서 들려주는 음악에 “정직하시오-훔치지 마시오-나는 정직하다-나는 훔치지 않을 것이다”를 정상인이 알아들을 수 없는 대단히 빠른 속도로 매시간 9천 번을 넣어 사용한 결과 물건 도난율이 9개월 동안 37% 감소됐다는 결과가 나왔다.
 
  ▲영문 잡지인 '현대 심리학'(Psychology Today)은 파도 소리나 물 떨어지는 소리의 중간 중간에 정상인이 알아들을 수 없는 속도로 “담배는 몸에 해롭다”는 메시지를 집어넣어 들려줄 경우, 금연에 상당한 효과가 있음을 입증하는 보도를 했던 적이 있다.
 
  위와 같은 실험은 인간이 의식할 수 없는 방법을 통해서도 여러 가지 메시지와 자료들이 인간의 기억 속에 저장될 수 있음을 입증해주고 있다. 우리의 의식이 작용하지 않는 무의식이나 잠재의식의 세계에서도 여전히 그 메시지나 자료들은 유효하게 살아 있는 것이다.
 
  김대중-노무현 左派정권 내내 TV화면에서 태극기를 거꾸로 걸어놓거나 흔드는 사례가 많았다. 左波는 거꾸로된 태극기의 이미지를 국민들에게 주입시켜 '태극기는 훼손해도 되는 것', '대한민국은 쓰레기 같은 나라'라는 이미지를 주입시켰다. 

左편향 한국사 교과서가 문제인 이유도 바로 여기에 있다. 어린 시절부터 이승만-박정희는 독재자, 김일성은 항일운동가라는 얘기를 듣고 자란 세대는 역사적 사실을 얘기해줘도 믿지 않게 된다. 머릿속에서 이승만-박정희-김정일에 대한 이미지가 굳어 버렸기 때문이다.
 
 TV와 左派들의 용어혼란 전술에 강하게 세뇌되어 가상현실이 현실이 되어 버린 것이다. 이들은 자기 자신이 피해 당사자가 되기 전에는 생각을 바꾸지 않을 것이다. 여기에 바로 비극이 있는 것이다.(2011-08-08)
 
조갑제닷컴 김필재 spooner1@hanmail.net 

Introduction

Subliminal messages have been tested and examined for over 50 years.  The first outbreak of hysteria culminated in the late 1950’s when a man by the name of James Vicary used subliminal projection in his movie theatre as a form of advertising aimed at getting customers to buy popcorn and soda pop¹.  Vicary claimed it to be an innocent form of advertisement, but when word got out about his efforts the general population became extremely offended and fearful of this subconscious tactic.  Vicary also made it clear that if the FCC banned this form of advertising he would do everything he could do to stop it².

Another group highly interested in this form of subconscious manipulation was the CIA.  In it’s earlier attempts and trials of subliminal perception the CIA was mainly interested in effectiveness that subliminal persuasion had on people.  This was due to the efforts of the CIA was making in attempt to come up with more mind controlling oriented forms of power1.  It was not long until legislatures in Washington, DC along with the FCC, became interested with this new form of advertisement.  In 1957, Utah legs Representative, William Dawson, crusaded against any form of subliminal messaging claiming that the knowledge about this form of media was all too little and inconclusive for it to be put into the hands of money hungry advertisers and TV companies³.

In efforts to find substantial information, the CIA and the FCC performed some preliminary tests, but their conclusions proved to be much too dependent upon an individual’s environment.  Due to such uncontrollable outside factors and the failure to find a standardized method of testing, the CIA concluded that results were not factual and depended highly on subjective factors.  The FCC eventually sent out a public service announcement in the early sixties that addressed that all of the uses of subliminal messages would be used in the best interest of the public and if used would be highly regulated.  Companies such as Vicary’s Subliminal Projection Co. soon went out of business due to the unpopular nature of their actions.

The scare of the late fifties subsided, but this initial scare sparked many individuals to become highly interested in this new form of media. It was not until the seventies that the FCC heard any more complaints from the public on subliminal messages.  However, the FCC continued to claim that any form of subliminal messages being broadcasted was not in regulation with a broadcasting license.  In effect they were reinforcing the public with their negative stand on subliminal advertisement.

• First known experiment was in 1956, a special projector was installed in a Fort Lee, New Jersey movie theater by a New York City firm, Subliminal Projection Co. A six-week period they flashed the words 'Drink Coca-Cola' and 'Hungary? Eat Popcorn' across the screen. (Every five seconds at the subliminal level of 1/3000th of a second.  Subliminal Projects reported that sale increased but would not release the exact states.
• The FCC definition of Subliminal messaging- 'Subliminal Projection is a technique of projecting information below the viewing audience's threshold of sensation or awareness. It involves flashing a message lasting only a fraction of a second on the TV screen. Theoretically, a viewer could receive such a message without realizing he or she had observed it.'

The author goes on to assert that the popular history of information processing without awareness, is sometimes called shadowed or masked information and sometimes referred to as peripheral information, but commonly known by the public under one general label as subliminal communication, is really a history of modern manipulation.

He refers to Vance Packard's, Hidden Persuaders, which appeared in 1957, quotes from the Sunday Times an account of a New Jersey theater in which ice cream ads were flashed onto the screen during a movie showing. That resulted in an otherwise unaccountable increase in ice cream sales. The Times referred to this technology as 'subthreshold effects.'

The author says that Packard's work warned of psychologists-turned-merchandisers and of the resulting psychoseduction of the American consumer. From belief systems to product identification, Packard presented a case for persuasion through the art and science of motivational analysis, feedback, and psychological manipulation. Hidden Persuaders was the first open attempt to inform the general public of a potentially Orwellian means to enslave the mind and to do so surreptitiously.

Wilson Brian Key, in his books Subliminal Seduction, 1974 and Clam Plate Orgy, 1981 argues that not only are we being subliminally merchandised today but the public has been subliminally seduced for hundreds of years. Key, a Canadian university professor, sums it all up in the title to a third book on the subject, Media Sexploitation, 1977.

In this authors work, Subliminal Communication, 1990 he discussed the earliest modern reference he had found on the subject of subliminal communication. According to Benjamin Wolman, subliminal research is at least as old as Suslowa's work in 1863 wherein he reported 'an increase in the two-point discrimination threshold as a function of subliminal electrical stimulation,' (1973). In 1894 W. R. Dunham, M.D. wrote an interesting commentary on the subliminal mind and subliminal communication. Nearly one hundred years later, Dunham's essay reads much like current research on the subject. In The Science of Vital Force, Dunham demonstrated the existence of both subliminal mind and subliminal communication.

One of Freud's most important contributions...is the stark revelation that mankind is a mere particle of his potential.

One of Freud's most important contributions to approaching the enigma known, as the human condition is the stark revelation that mankind is a mere particle of his potential. Unconscious processes predetermine conscious choices and therefore behavior. Aggregates of attitude and behavior constitute personality. Personality is rather rigid, and consequently the human condition is an abysmal shadow of itself. What is more, according to Freud, it is inherently in conflict with itself.
A contemporary of Sigmund Freud, Dr. O. Poetzle, studied subliminal perception under exact laboratory conditions and discovered behavior effects days and weeks after the original stimuli.

Professor Benjamin B. Wolman's modified categorization of subliminal stimuli, divides descriptive values into five criteria of awareness and unawareness. The stimulus is:

1. Below the level of registration.
2. Above the level of registration but below the level of detection.
3. Above the level of detection and discrimination but below the level of identification.*
4. Below the level of identification only because of a defensive action. (1973).
* Using Wolman's categories, InnerTalk® falls in category three.

1. Subliminal stimulus does leave an influence upon the content of subsequent cognition.
2. Subliminal stimuli have affected and can affect secondary process thinking.
3. There are neurophysiological findings, which appear to concur with registration without awareness.
4. Despite some failures of replication there are numerous instances where subliminal stimuli 'can measurably influence a variety of subject's subsequent behaviors.'
5. Conscious thinking can be influenced by stimuli outside of awareness.

It is a First Amendment violation to use subliminal information without consent.
The wrongful death action, brought against Judas Priest and CBS in Reno, has led to a judicial interpretation regarding subliminal communication and First Amendment rights. Judge Whitehead ruled that it was a First Amendment violation to use subliminal information without consent.

First Amendment rights have often been an issue when the jurisprudence process becomes involved with subliminal stimuli. The Honorable Jerry Carr Whitehead, District Judge in the State of Nevada eloquently argues that subliminal communication violates First Amendment liberties when covertly or surreptitiously employed.

Whatever ultimate interpretations or direction of the controversy, one thing is quite certain, subliminals (used here as a noun referring to the general nature of their type of communication) are here to stay.

The economic factors of the media include product placement, which is the practice of integrating specific products and brands into filmed entertainment. Although there is still an occasional payment by the manufacturer for 'key' placement, in the majority of deals nowadays, no cash changes hands. Rather the client supplies goods or equipment for use in filming, or tosses in some extra product (food, for example) for the crew. (Entertainment resources & Marketing Association1)

Product placement is imbedded in film. There is no mute button for subliminal messages thus peoples attentions are drawn to products with out and influence to buy. They gain credible endorsements from the show or actor using the product. The cost is low compared to other types of promotion or advertising. You can reach audience at less than $1.00 per thousand⁴.

In the following films the product placement observed is as follows. In What Women Want there was several cases of product placement—Winston Cigarettes, Fosters Beer, and Legs Panty hose just to name a few. In CastAway it was Wilson volleyballs, FedEx Delivery, and Swiss Army knife. All of these items are used as casual background in the movies.  Another odd economic factor was the BMWs in Finding Forrester. BMW has their corporate office right next the Sony Corp offices, whether or not that is an economic factor is undocumented, but it does seem like a connection.

In general it was hard to find a connection between product advertisement and movie placement. It is common knowledge that movies are a strong resource in advertising, but no one seems to want to talk about it.

There are many technologies used in the movie industry.  There are a few that are quite closely attached to subliminal messages.  These include the cameras, editing equipment and special effects equipment.

There are many types of cameras used in filming movies.  Though the subliminal messages generally come from the type of camera work done rather than the camera itself, the camera has a strong affect on how the scene looks in its final edition.  For example, a scene may require a wide-angle shot, for which a specific camera is used.  There are messages attached to the way a scene is shot and in order to capture the scene appropriately a specific type of camera is required.  Thus, the technology used does affect the message in the media.

Another technology to keep in mind is the editing tools.  These include digital computer hardware and software, as well as the large scale editing tables.  Many studios use high-powered laptops to do out of studio editing.  An example of this is that Lucas Arts used an Apple PowerBook G3 combined with Apples Final Cut Pro video editing software when shooting Star Wars: Episode 1 in the desert.  This software can also be used to easily to insert digitally mastered clips that flash on and off screen unbeknownst to viewers delivering very effective messages.

Another idea to be aware of is the use of brands such as Apple by large companies can have several connotations as well.  For example, Lucas Arts both made a point of advertising the use of Apples products in making Star Wars: Episode 1.

There are also many devices that can, in theory, deliver messages through ultrasonic “guns.”  These devices, some people will argue, are a potential threat as they do no physical harm, yet can deliver messages to people in frightening ways.

The Media Motion Picture Association of America controls the motion picture media.  There is a board of directors who are chairmen and presidents of 7 major producers and distributors of motion pictures and TV- Walt Disney, Sony pictures, Metro-Goldwin- Mayer, Paramount, Twentieth Century Fox, Universal Studios, and Warner Bros⁵.

To elicit a few examples of controlling media the use of Dreamworks film CastAway is effective. There are two major film companies that produced the film CastAway. The first was Dreamworks SKG. Steven Spielberg, Jeffery Katzenberg, and David Geffen initially set up DREAMWORKS SKG as a film studio that was there for the artist its goal was to produce the high quality films that were only found being made by the moguls⁶.  It is not as large as some other big name producers but is rapidly moving through the ranks of acquiring it own Media Empire. Dreamworks has its own small but horizontally integrated conglomerate. The second company is 20th Century Fox. 20th Century Fox is part of News Corp which is controlled by Rupert Murdoch. Rupert Murdoch is a strong believer that his Conglomerate is an extension of his ideas. He has even gone as far as saying, “For better or for worse, our company (News Corp) is a reflection of my thinking, my character, my values⁷. This combination between producers is rather odd they both represent opposites in the way they conduct control of their productions. Rupert Murdoch believes that the ultimate power should lie in his decisions, while Dreamworks believe in giving their artist more personal control
 

Footnotes

1. http://www.parascope.com/ds/articles/ciasubliminaldoc.htm
2. http://www.parascope.com/articles/0397/sublim2.htm
3. http://www.parascope.com/articles/0397/sublim1.htm
4. http://www.erma.org/brndwk/brandweek.html
5. http://www.productplacement.co.nz/benefits.html
6. http://www.mpaa.org/about/
7. http://www.dreamworks.com/
8. http://www.csun.edu/~kab42291/