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===Birthplace of subliminal messaging=== In 1957, market researcher [[James Vicary]] claimed that quickly flashing messages on a movie screen, in Fort Lee, had influenced people to purchase more food and drinks. Vicary coined the term ''[[Subliminal message|subliminal advertising]]'' and formed the Subliminal Projection Company based on a six-week test. Vicary claimed that during the presentation of the movie ''[[Picnic (1955 film)|Picnic]]'' he used a [[tachistoscope]] to project the words "Drink [[Coca-Cola]]" and "Hungry? Eat popcorn" for 1/3000 of a second at five-second intervals. Vicary asserted that during the test, sales of popcorn and Coke in that New Jersey theater increased 57.8% and 18.1% respectively.<ref name="straightdope">[http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/177/does-subliminal-advertising-work "Does subliminal advertising work?"], [[The Straight Dope]], April 22, 1977. Accessed December 7, 2013.</ref><ref name="snopes">[http://www.snopes.com/business/hidden/popcorn.asp 'Subliminal Advertising β Claim: An early experiment in subliminal advertising at a movie theater substantially increased sales of popcorn and Coke."], [[Urban Legends Reference Pages]], May 3, 2011. Accessed December 7, 2013. "Vicary's studies were largely forgettable, save for one experiment he conducted at a Ft. Lee, New Jersey movie theater during the summer of 1957.... The result of displaying these imperceptible suggestions β ''Drink Coca-Cola'' and ''Hungry? Eat Popcorn'' β was an amazing 18.1% increase in Coca-Cola sales, and a whopping 57.8% jump in popcorn purchases.... Eventually Vicary confessed that he had falsified the data from his first experiments, and some critics have since expressed doubts that he actually conducted his infamous Ft. Lee experiment at all."</ref> In 1962, Vicary admitted to lying about the experiment and falsifying the results, the story itself being a marketing ploy.<ref>Boese, Alex (2002). [https://books.google.com/books?id=q5PaAAAAMAAJ&q=vicary ''The Museum of Hoaxes: A Collection of Pranks, Stunts, Deceptions, and Other Wonderful Stories Contrived for the Public from the Middle Ages to the New Millennium''], [[E. P. Dutton]], {{ISBN|0-525-94678-0}}. pp. 137β38.</ref><ref>Pratkanis, Anthony R. [http://www.csicop.org/si/show/cargo-cult_science_of_subliminal_persuasion/ The Cargo-Cult Science of Subliminal Persuasion], ''[[The Skeptical Inquirer]]'', Volume 16.3, Spring 1992. Accessed October 13, 2013. "But there is a seamier side to the 'Eat Popcorn/Drink Coke' study-one that is rarely brought to public attention. In a 1962 interview with Advertising Age, James Vicary announced that the original study was a fabrication intended to increase customers for his failing marketing business."</ref> An identical experiment conducted by Henry Link showed no increase in cola or popcorn sales.<ref name="snopes"/> The additional claim that the small cinema handled 45,699 visitors in six weeks has led people to believe that Vicary actually did not conduct his experiment at all.<ref name="snopes"/>
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