see's???

his (new window)?

'''''''''''''''''

str-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-tch.

It'd be bad enough if this were reported by bored bloggers prone to outrage. But for ABC to stoop to such baseless speculation is tabloid journalism at its ugliest.

/subliminal ftw!

Sure. And these weren't subliminal, either. (new window)

I love how the orange draws your eyes to BA ALQD
Barack al Qaeda is the subliminal message they want you to get.

IAQD is maybe a coincidence. BA AL QD is less of one. Only those letters being highlighted and them being central in the screen is not a coincidence.

Oh boy, the tinfoil hat club is gonna run with this tripe. a i q d tshirts, website to follow.

Hobodeluxe: BA AL QD

BA AL AQ? ai dq? OMG! ROTFLMAO! This is so FUBAR. IDK after RTFA, but AYSOS?

Why exactly did they inntentionally add there random text to this ad ad in the first place?

Did anybody else see this flash across the screen?

Of course, science says the whole "subliminal" advertising thing is BS. If you see it, it's not subliminal, if you don't see it, well, you don't see it. The idea that your brain processes ad messages that you are unaware of is BS.

Look guys, believe what you want to believe, but the odds of this being random are 1 in a million. McCain isn't fooling me. This is how him and Bush plan on stealing the election. I have a "very close friend" who is "very high up" in a "very important" unammed 3-letter agency... He guarantees me that Republicans have been winning elections since Nixon by using the subliminal messages and every time someone figures it out, they go missing. After a stunt like this, is there really any doubt about who pulled 9/11??? Republicans are terrorist and must be stopped. There is no telling what they are going to do next. I'm so sick of Republicans.. Screw them all, I hope they burn in hell. Remember to vote TARDs. NOVEMBER 5th!

If I net one, it was worth it

Neurochemist: I have a "very close friend" who is "very high up" in a "very important" unammed 3-letter agency... He guarantees me that Republicans have been winning elections since Nixon by using the subliminal messages and every time someone figures it out, they go missing. After a stunt like this, is there really any doubt about who pulled 9/11???


And welcome our first contestant!

Neurochemist: Screw them all, I hope they burn in hell.

And no liberal hate here folks, just move along please.

Neurochemist: Republicans are terrorist and must be stopped.

I've only attacked 2 busses, one embassy, and one rather suspicious taco stand. I resent that remark.

Flashing pictures on my screen
Going too quickly to be seen
Does not register in the conscious mind
Propaganda of another kind

/ST FTW

I seriously think that using subliminal messages is overdoing it if you are courting people who are contemplating voting for McCain

FlAshing pictures on my screen
Going too quickly to be seen
Does not regIster in the conscious mind
Propaganda of another kind

SUBLIMINAL INSULT

DON'T CALL ME THAT

3_Butt_Cheeks: And no liberal hate here folks, just move along please.

I'm fairly certain you just got trolled.

Biological Ali: 3_Butt_Cheeks: And no liberal hate here folks, just move along please.

I'm fairly certain you just got trolled.

No, that guy pops up all the time with his 9/11 theories and telling anyone who doesn't agree with him to "die" or "go to hell". He's usually somewhat amusing, but not so much today.

This from the campaign that doesn't know whether condoms prevent HIV. Yeah, I'm guessing they aren't as shrewd as ABC is giving them credit.

That being said, when did ABC become the network that asked the loaded rhetorical questions? "Is Obama infected with rabies? Does his glare turn you to stone?? More on this at 11!'. Was this before or after fox news got popular?

Neurochemist: Remember to vote TARDIs. NOVEMBER 5th!

If I net one, it was worth it

Are you subliminally telling me to write in David Tennant for president?

Biological Ali: 3_Butt_Cheeks: And no liberal hate here folks, just move along please.

I'm fairly certain you just got trolled.

Yep. Neurochemist netted 3BC real good. I'm surprised 3 didn't catch the "November 5" remark.

On a different tack, from what I've seen of it, good on the McCain team for making a video with a message beyond "I was a P.O.W. Vote for me."

Now if they can come up with a message besides that or "Lookit what the other guy did!"

/the fix is in. The RNC knew all along that this was going to be a losing race.

Well, that subliminal ad convinces me that DC worships Ba'al.

Andric, do that with gootse, and I'm sold!

/Instead of McCain

I have a sudden craving for popcorn and sex with ice cubes.

/"veteran Democratic operative?"

First thing I thought of when I saw the letters was "Bald"; what they are suggesting never even occured to me until I RTFA. Then I laughed out loud and submitted the link. Feel kinda silly for "Sees" but hey, it was 4am and I had one and a half hours to go of a 12 hour shift, was bleery eyed :P

I kinda hope the tin foils do make something of this, but with Obama landing in Afghanistan, I think it will be overshadowed; probably why the editors felt comfortable running the crap.

Canadian Canuck: /subliminal ftw!

al-qaeDa cemetery?

BiffDangler Of course, science says the whole "subliminal" advertising thing is BS. If you see it, it's not subliminal, if you don't see it, well, you don't see it. The idea that your brain processes ad messages that you are unaware of is BS.

No Biff, it's real and it works. Conscious processing requires more than one frame (and can be confounded by backward masking, which is not what you think it is). Unconscious (visceral) processing is faster.

Some of the original research was in ads in movie theaters. They showed a big box of popcorn for one frame, and found that snack bar sales increased. But it wasn't just popcorn that sold more - it was everything. Later studies confirmed the effect - you can't convey a specific message, but you CAN create a mood and interpretation context. Hungry, angry, sad, scared, disgusted. Show people a smiley face and they are more likely to say the story following it is a happy one. Show them an angry face and they are more likely to say the story following it is infuriating. And they have perfectly good explanations of why, none of which mention the single-frame stimulus.

There is no doubt in my mind that the RATS ad was intentional. And this one.

ringo2: There is no doubt in my mind that the RATS ad was intentional. And this one.

Yikes, another one. I see it on freeze frame and there is nothing there. ba ai qd. Bait a squid? The big evil republicans are eating into our brains. brraaaaaiiiiiins!!

I'm sure this isn't the first time, nor will it be the Lost time that sublimininal messages will be used in political campaign commercials. Good work ABC.

JQPublic: I'm sure this isn't the first time, nor will it be the Lost time that sublimininal messages will be used in political campaign commercials. Good work ABC.

See, the problem I have is this...First McCain is too old and senile to be President, and second he's brilliant enough to brainwash the electoral college into voting for him.

Make up your mind, either he's good enough to pull the wool not just over our eyes, but our enemies eyes, or he's a doddering old fool.

/Personaly I shoot for somewhere in between; compared to campaigns of the past, McCain has been pretty tame on the attack ad's.

he doesn't have to brainwash the electoral college, just the flyover states.

Neither convention has happened yet - the campaign hasn't "officially" started. Where were Gore, Kerry, etc. in the polls at this point?

CanisNoir: First McCain is too old and senile to be President, and second he's brilliant enough to brainwash the electoral college into voting for him.

Those traits are not mutually exclusive.

Without this "controversy," the McCain campaign would waste their money showing the ad a few times, then try something else. This is certainly a more cost-effective way of getting plenty of exposure.

_{/Watch the advertisement in freeze-frame mode, and see if you can catch all the subtle innuendos. Then watch it again with your friends!
//see how small this text is? You really should pay attention to tiny things like this. It's more important than all those posts with normal-sized type.}

At this point in the race, both candidates are looking weak and somewhat stale. McCain has not taken advantage of Obama's foreign policy inexperience and "policy adjusting".

Obama has failed to take advantage of McCain's Iraq war support and general anti GOP sentiment in the country right now. He should have a bigger lead.

Making up this "subliminal" message is about as smart and accurate as Obama being a secret muslim, and makes you look about the same.

Snarfangel:
//see how small this text is? You really should pay attention to tiny things like this. It's more important than all those posts with normal-sized type.

AND PEOPLE IGNORE UNIMPORTANT BIG TEXT LIKE THIS!

It's hard to cut through all the "big text" clutter of advertising these days. If McCain's ad team did generate this controversy, then they did their job -- people are watching the ad and talking about it.

3_Butt_Cheeks - I'm not sure why you use the phrase "making up" here. Kinda loaded, don't you think?

3_Butt_Cheeks: At this point in the race, both candidates are looking weak and somewhat stale. McCain has not taken advantage of Obama's foreign policy inexperience and "policy adjusting".

Obama has failed to take advantage of McCain's Iraq war support and general anti GOP sentiment in the country right now. He should have a bigger lead.

I don't think either candidate wants to personally jump into the fray at the moment. They both seem content to fight proxy battles in the media through surrogates, so we'll most likely have to wait till the debates for the next significant confrontation. Now, if we could all somehow find more productive things to occupy ourselves with till then...

If you squint, you can see Obama crushing one of the WTC buildings with his hand.

Unlike four years ago, a lot of the research on this effect is now online.

Go into pubmed and look for "subliminal" and "priming". You get stuff like this:

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17045810?ordinalpos=1&itool=EntrezSystem2.PEn trez.Pubmed.Pubmed_ResultsPanel.Pubmed_DiscoveryPanel.Pubmed_Discovery_RA&linkpo s=1&log$=relatedarticles&logdbfrom=pubmed

ringo2: 3_Butt_Cheeks - I'm not sure why you use the phrase "making up" here. Kinda loaded, don't you think?

Certainly not. If you can translate ba ai qd c me t y, and do it after seeing it for less than a second, you can convinced me this is a "subliminal message".

Otherwise, it's make up partisan hocus pocus that has nothing to do with the election.

Please read the linked abstract.

Knee-jerk dismissal is the worst form of ignorance.

CanisNoir:
See, the problem I have is this...First McCain is too old and senile to be President, and second he's brilliant enough to brainwash the electoral college into voting for him.

Actually, that'd make me worry he's just a puppet. You know, like our current president.

Make up your mind, either he's good enough to pull the wool not just over our eyes, but our enemies eyes, or he's a doddering old fool.

I'm pretty sure McCain didn't create the ad personally. I've heard his Photoshop skillz are weak, he can't even shoop da woop, or whatever the phrase is.

In any case, in the same way that you can't make someone buy a specific brand of tea via subliminals if they aren't thirsty, I don't think this can make someone who's inclined to vote for Obama think he's a turrist.

"I'm afraid I can't comment on the subliminal message at this present time, and we are saying it came from a Spontaneous Paracausal Randomized Phenomenon."

"Can you tell us what that means?"

"I'm not altogether sure. Let's be straight here. If we find something we want to cover up we like to call it something you can't understand, or indeed pronounce. I mean, if we just let you go around calling it a "subliminal message," then that suggests that you know something we did, and I'm afraid we couldn't have that.

"No, first we have to call it something which says it's ours, not yours, then we set about finding some way of proving it's not what you said it is, but something we say it is.

"And if it turns out that you're right, you'll still be wrong, because we will simply call it a...er 'Randomized...' - not coincidental or mistaken because you think you know what those mean now, no, a 'Text Randomizer'. We'll probably want to shove a 'Quasi' in there somewhere to protect ourselves. Subliminal message! Huh, never heard such nonsense in my life. Admittedly, you wouldn't catch me taking a lie detector test about it. Thanks, that'll be all for now, other than to say PANCAKES to McCain if he's watching."

Noam Chimpsky: If you squint, you can see Obama crushing one of the WTC buildings with his hand.