The word "sublime," originally derived from Latin sublimis ("uplifted"), a word probably not related to sub-limen ("below the limen" or "below the threshold").
Subliminal messages in advertising are brief visual or auditory messages that are presented below the human threshold, which means that there is less than a 25% chance that the messages will be perceived.
It's a technique in visual or audio presentation that delivers advertising messages below the threshold of conscious perception.
Or in layman terms, a promotional message in front of a TV or cinema audience, so short and rapid, that it does not register in the viewer's conscious mind.
The message does, however, register below the conscious level, and provides stimulus for action.
In movies shown in cinema halls, it is possible to insert one single frame in twenty-four.
The message in the frame could be, for instance, "You Are Hungry.
" Repeating the message a hundred times at short intervals might, in theory, persuade the audience to buy refreshments while at the cinema.
Antagonists claim that any kind of subliminal message can be carried in this way, including bad propaganda and messages that encourage violent behavior and criminal activity.
In actual fact, nobody is quite sure whether or not the system actually works.
Still subliminally embedded messages exist.
The moot question is: How common are they? A study of advertising executives found that few, if any, marketing agencies strive to insert subliminal messages in advertising.
In light of the powerful impact that ordinary advertisements exert, it simply doesn't makes much sense for ad-makers to rack their brains to embed subliminal messages in commercials.
Besides, if the news media ever found out (and in any developed country they eventually would) that an ad agency had slipped a subliminal spot into a commercial, the negative press the agency would receive would overwhelm any possible benefits of the subliminal message.