Burn Me: Consensual Subliminality in Advertising

The advertisement described in this video recalls the controversies surrounding “subliminal advertising,” such as messages and images flashed below the perceptual threshold to induce moviegoers to eat more popcorn and consume more soft drinks. Although the effectiveness of this and other such techniques was never conclusively demonstrated, the FCC banned subliminal advertising in 1974. The producers of this BMW advertisement, however seem to have discovered that something like subliminal advertising works when its presence is acknowledged. We like to be toyed with�and our amazement acts as a sort of retroactive consent. [via Core77]