# Has Subliminal Messaging Ever Been Proven to Work?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-subliminal-messaging-ever-been-proven-to-work/143482>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [December 18, 2002, 4:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-subliminal-messaging-ever-been-proven-to-work/143482 "2002-12-18T04:19:17Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![torben](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/5daacb/32.png) [@torben](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/torben)\
**Post date:** [December 18, 2002, 4:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-subliminal-messaging-ever-been-proven-to-work/143482/1 "2002-12-18T04:19:17Z")

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I’ve heard that way back when movie theaters used subliminal advertising to sell concessions and that their sales went up exponentially. I’ve also heard that long ago the U.S. government did experiments on people to see if they could be controlled. I’ve also heard that like hypnosis, the susceptibility and effectiveness of an individual to subliminal messaging varies from individual to individual. So my question is this: Has subliminal messaging ever been proven to work or is it all a bunch of b.s.?

torben

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**Author:** ![DarrenS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/977dab/32.png) [@DarrenS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DarrenS)\
**Post date:** [December 18, 2002, 4:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-subliminal-messaging-ever-been-proven-to-work/143482/2 "2002-12-18T04:33:20Z")

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Search the archives of General Questions and Cecil’s columns - this has been discussed many times.

Examples:

[http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=147205](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=147205)  
(and see links therein)

[http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=85178](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=85178)

[http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a1\_187.html](http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a1_187.html)

…etc etc…

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**Author:** ![SC\_Wolf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/eb9ed0/32.png) [@SC\_Wolf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SC_Wolf)\
**Post date:** [December 18, 2002, 5:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-subliminal-messaging-ever-been-proven-to-work/143482/3 "2002-12-18T05:10:39Z")

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Only as a very effective comedy device for SNL alumus Kevin Nealon.