Hello Brother Cecil,
I was once in an advertising class that explained the phenomena of 10:10 and 8:20 set on watches in print advertisements. It is believed that the hands represent a pair of legs subliminally in one’s mind. At these particular times, the legs are spread as wide as possible. Some watches have a short “tail” on one end, which could represent one’s male privates.
Hope this is helpful.
Eric
Welcome to the SDMB, aphable.
A link to the column is appreciated. Providing one can be as simple as pasting the URL into your post, making sure to leave a blank space on either side of it. Like so: http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a2_330.html
So you’re saying that a significant portion of watch-buyers are subliminally attracted to a naked man with his legs spread wide? I’m not seeing it. Even if we suppose that most watch-buyers are sexually attracted to men, I don’t know of all that many sexual positions where a man would spread his legs wide. The argument would perhaps be a bit stronger without the “penis” (both since spread female legs are regarded as sexually inviting, and because I suspect more men buy watches than women), but it’d still be a bit far-fetched. Why make it any more complicated than “people like symmetry”?
In an old marketing class of mine we were told 10:10 was ‘happy time’ in that it looked like th ewatch was smiling. Watch makers put their hands there so that the craftmanship of the individual hand could easily be seen.
I haven’t seen many 8:20 watches but I imagine it’s so the end of the hands can be easily seen rather than the arms.
I know sex sells but I think your prof is taking it a bit too far.
As I understand it, you dont have to actually be attracted to the sexual image for subliminal commercial to work on you, its enough that your mind goes “hey, look, look, thats sex!” to make you pay attention to the commercial.
Thats the idea, at least, I dont believe there is any evidence that subliminal commercials actually work…
Neither does Cecil. See http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a1_187.html
My best friend’s father was a watch maker.
He told us a very simple reason for setting the hands to 8:20 or 10:10. Which, depends on where the brand name or logo is imprinted. If the name is below the center, the watch or clock is set to 8:20, at the top to 10:10, to frame and emphasize the maker.
I recall a psych course I took that described the same phenomenon. We saw examples of advertisements that included children sitting in the crotch of a tree (childbirth?), trains entering tunnels, etc. Not being in the advertising biz I don’t know for sure, but I bet these things are done on the assumption that they work. Whether or not they actually do is a separate topic.