September 17, 2000

Rat Trap Exposes Bias, Ignorance of Left-Wing Media

The rat trap set for George Bush last week by the Democrat National Committee and New York Times caught him by the tail – make that, tale – but did not

render him hor de combat. Ignorance and/or duplicity will out.

The Republican National Committee – no paragon itself – ran a spot TV ad in 33 cities a month ago attacking Al Gore’s prescription drug proposal. The message intended was that his plan would be run by BUREAUCRATS – big letters important.

Gore allowed as how he was "disappointed" at his opponent’s "personal" insult.

As all political junkies know by now, the B word was superimposed on several, fleeting images. The last four letters graced the last frame for 1/30th of a second. A retired engineer in California taped the GOP commercial and froze the frames one by one to see what the flashes were all about.

Ten thousand horrors! One isolation spelled "RATS." Obviously this was an intentional slur on Democrats in general and Mr. Gore specifically.  

The offended retiree – who knows all about "hidden persuaders" -- told his local Democrat Committee, which told the state committee, which told the Gore election committee, which told the DNC, which told the New York Times which was copied nationwide by the press rat pack.

Big city, liberal-oriented, media spent three days frothing with indignation. Bush’s issue agenda was totally ignored while his mean motives were dissected. The me-to press did not let up until Rick Lazio said mean things about Hillary Clinton in their NBC New York debate.

All this could be tolerated as usual campaign foolishness if it was not so stupid – somewhat for the RNC spending good money for amateur advertising. However, most fault lies with the Gore/DNC combine and pack journalists for ignorance about "subliminal advertising" (quick, close your eyes and pronounce the key word).

Worse yet, perhaps the Democ-rats choir knows that subliminal advertising is hooey; and the frenzy was cynical exploitation of public ignorance.

The subliminal nonsense was sprung on gullible consumers in 1957 by a hustling advertising agent named James Vicary.

He claimed to have conducted tests in a New Jersey movie theater that boosted sales of popcorn and Coca-Cola dramatically. Vicary said that with a strobe-like tachistoscope he flashed alternate messages about the refreshments during the movie Picnic.

The messages were displayed for only 1/3000th of a second at five-second intervals. Supposedly the theater patrons stampeded the refreshment counter – "18 percent more than usual for Coca-Cola and 57 percent more for popcorn.

I was advertising manager for the Michigan Bell Telephone Company at that time, and followed the subliminal phenomena closely. If there was a magic bullet to persuade consumers to buy more phone service and talk longer on long distance, I wanted to get on board. Our advertising agency was hugely skeptical, and Vicary’s claim didn’t make sense to me.

Sure enough, similar tests conducted by reputable psychologists could not find any change in buying impulse with messages flashed faster than human brains could notice. Vicary finally admitted that he had made up the entire scenario to attract clients.

Nevertheless, the notion that people could be manipulated without their knowledge was so frightening it persists to this day. Other charlatans milked the hoax. Several books were published asserting there were "hidden persuaders" in advertising about popular products.

There were sexual images in ice-cubes pictured in certain alcoholic drinks. Fanatics saw the "mark of the Devil" in Proctor & Gamble’s crescent moon trademark. A few local television stations tried expensive, subliminal advertising but stopped when there was no difference between straight and gimmicked ads.

Congress, in response to panicky consumers, introduced bills in 1958 and 1959 to outlaw subliminal advertising. However, both were laughed into committee and buried. The Federal Communication Commission in 1974 said such advertising was meaningless but, anyway, issued a regulation forbidding its use by television advertisers.  

In the present case, it is highly unlikely that a big-time politician would employ an illegal procedure – or that a network would risk its license by permitting transmission.  

 Ironically the offending "visual drumbeat" technique used by the RNC also isolated WIT from the phrase "INTERFERE WITH DOCTORS."  If you spell rats backward – as any conspiracy nut would – it comes out "star."

More idiotic than anything is that a noticeable flash is subliminal. Somewhere out there in the vast left-wing conspiracy there is a bored, old geezer with nothing to do but play with his video recorder.  

Shame on the New York Times for taking left-wing claptrap at face value! With more than 600 writers in its newsroom, and a giant advertising department, surely there was a gray-haired employee who should have reminded the editor about the subliminal scare a half-century ago.

Then, of course, maybe the editor did know but welcomed the partisan allegation by DNC – in which case the Times should revise its famous slogan to:  "All the news fit to re-print."  

By Lindsey Williams, columnist for Sun Coast Media Group newspapers