"Subliminal Advertising or Hypnotic Writing?" by Joe Vitale
James Vicary, an advertising expert, went into a 1950s movie theater to test his devious new tool for persuading others: subliminal advertising.
During the movie he allegedly flashed the commands "EAT POPCORN" and "DRINK COKE" so fast that the unsuspecting audience couldn't consciously see the words. Vicary claimed Coke sales jumped 18.1% and popcorn sales leaped 57.7%.
On that day, subliminal advertising was born.
Today subliminal advertising is banned by most major countries. The FCC in America outlaws it by simply saying subliminal advertising is designed to deceive. For that reason alone it is forbidden to be used by any radio or television advertiser.
Still, self-help tapes that claim to have subliminal messages hidden on them continue to sell to the tune of $50,000,000 a year.
The question I bring to the table today is this: Which works better: Subliminal Advertising or Hypnotic Writing?
Vicary's famous movie theater test has been proven to be a hoax. He didn't test it on the amount of people he claimed (50,000, which the small town theater couldn't hold), and he didn't keep an accurate count of popcorn or coke sales. In short, he wanted subliminal advertising to work in order to increase his consulting business as an ad expert. But all the research shows his method did not and does not work.
The same with subliminal tapes. Anthony Pratkanis and Elliot Aronson, author of the fascinating book, "Age of Propaganda," conducted studies to see if subliminal advertising, and subliminal self-help tapes, actually worked. Their research said it did not. There was no evidence to support it. None. While people wanted to believe in subliminals, they could not prove it worked to even the slightest degree.
Hypnotic Writing, on the other hand, is not devious. It is not hidden. It is not illegal. It is designed to influence people with words---obvious words, seen consciously right on the page or the screen. It uses stories, active writing, strategic sentence structure, and more, to achieve results.
Subliminal advertising doesn't increase sales. Hypnotic Writing does. Subliminal advertising allegedly works below your conscious level of awareness. Hypnotic Writing works on your subconscious mind by using your conscious mind to get there.
Look at it this way:
An example of subliminal advertising might be the famous claim that "images" in ice cubes in a liquor ad look like naked women. Well, you have to treat the ice cubes like Rosarch Test ink-blots in order to come to that conclusion. And even if there were faint images of naked women in the ice cubes, would that really influence anyone to buy more booze?
An example of Hypnotic Writing might be a story-oriented sales letter, such as the famous one I wrote that people are using as a template for their own letters. My letter began, "I'm nearly in tears..." It then told a story of how my latest book was influencing people to go for, and get, their dreams. The story let the sales message get into the readers. More importantly, more copies of my book sold. Hypnotic Writing works.
In short, subliminal advertising is not only questionable, it's illegal. Hypnotic Writing, on the other hand, is legit and it gets results.
HypnoticLibrary.com
By Joe Vitale
This is a complete collection of Joe's most popular products.
HypnoticMarketing.com
By Joe Vitale,
This ebook book shows you techniques on how to make your publicity, emails and websites hypnotic. It also includes Joe Vitale's 3-step marketing strategy called "Guaranteed Outcome Marketing," which can increase your business by 70% -- in less than 90 days
HypnoticWriting.com
By Joe Vitale
This course, by Joe Vitale (recognized by many as the best copywriter in the U.S.), shows you how to use "hypnotic" tricks in your writing to get people to more easily agree with you. A must for anyone who wants to write persuasively.
AdvancedHypnoticWriting.com
By Joe Vitale
This ebook is the unparalleled sequel to Joe Vitale's blockbuster "Hypnotic Writing." It reveals how to use the phenomenon of hypnotic suggestion to turn your words into cash.
HowToWriteHypnoticArticles.com
By Joe Vitale and Larry Dotson
This ebook tells you how to get free publicity by writing hypnotic articles for e-zines and Web sites -- in 7 minutes or less.
HowToWriteHypnoticEndorsements.com
By Joe Vitale and Larry Dotson
This ebook shows you how to write persuasive endorsements that can help you increase sales.
HowToWriteHypnoticJointVentureProposals.com
By Joe Vitale and Larry Dotson
An ebook that tells you how to get free advertising for your business by writing hypnotic joint venture proposals.
HypnoticSellingTools.com
By Joe Vitale and Larry Dotson
Learn how to influence your prospects' subconscious minds with these 1739 hypnotic words, phrases and sentences.
HypnoticWritingSwipeFile.com
By Joe Vitale and Larry Dotson
This is a collection of over 1,550 copywriting gems that took Joe Vitale and Larry Dotson years to compile. This is their personal swipe file that they use to create world famous sales letters responsible for generating millions and millions of dollars of revenue.
ImpulseInternetMarketing.com
By Joe Vitale and Dr. Scott Lewis
This ebook tells you how to use 49 psychological tricks Las Vegas casinos use, to make your business pay off like a slot machine.
SubconsciousInternetMarketing.com
By Joe Vitale and Larry Dotson
Learn how to bypass your prospects' unconscious minds and get them to buy anything you sell
CreateAdvertisingThatSells.com
By Joe Vitale
An interactive online video advertising course featuring book, workbook, and video instruction that has been one of our bestsellers. And since we can all learn from the masters, it also features several reproductions of hugely successful ad campaigns.
HypnoticTrafficTools.com
By Joe Vitale and Larry Dotson
Hypnotic SellingTools.com
By Joe Vitale and Larry Dotson