Lies they tried to teach me in school

petdance on 2003-04-22T15:38:06

Yesterday in my Intro To Business class, the teacher, who previously told us the returning tires to Nordstrom story as having happened at a Home Depot, told us that there used to be subliminal advertising in the movies.

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Not so

delegatrix on 2003-04-22T17:29:07

From the link: "but requests for refunds for items that could not have come from this retailer are turned down."

I don't believe this was always the case. '60 Minutes' did a story on the Nordstrom philosophy and had a customer return a shirt with the Marshall Field brand label. The clerk took it back and the Nordstrom Suit Guy later explained that this is done because if Nordstrom gives you $45 in cash, chances are you'll spend it in the store while you're there. Maybe they're less flexible now.

Did you let the teacher know?

mako132 on 2003-04-22T19:57:36

Did you (politely) let the teacher know afterwards that the examples were urban legends?

I'd suggest sending an email with the links you mentioned, perhaps suggesting that the textbooks from which the examples may have been drawn (the teachers 'out') may be out of date or incorrect.

And yeah, could be you've got one of those teachers who dusts off his/her notes every year lectures exactly the same. Maybe the teacher will say from then on "I think this may be an urban legend, but subliminal advertising was . . . etc."

Partly Urban Legend?

barbie on 2003-04-23T08:56:56

With regards to 'subliminal advertising', there was a documentary in the UK some years ago that discussed how marketing on TV and in movies had changed over the years. They did claim that there was an experiment done with an image of a coke bottle spliced into a film, although I don't recall it being in the 50s or being Picnic, although that could be an update of the urban legend.

I do recall they noted that 'product placement', as it's now referred to, did have a similar effect, and is now one of the reasons major global companies see Hollywood as a great advertising opportunity.

Re:Partly Urban Legend?

petdance on 2003-04-23T12:59:55

I do recall they noted that 'product placement', as it's now referred to, did have a similar effect, and is now one of the reasons major global companies see Hollywood as a great advertising opportunity.

Subliminal advertising and product placement are two entirely different things.

Re:Partly Urban Legend?

barbie on 2003-04-23T15:35:22

The term subliminal advertising is exactly what product placement originally was. Sometimes its not so subliminal (eg Minority Report), but it is still advertising. Many companies now fund movies simply because its a way to get their products on screen. Its only less subliminial now because we are much more aware that they do it.

I do agree that the urban legend version of subliminal advertising that you referred to however, is not the same as product placement.

Re:Partly Urban Legend?

petdance on 2003-04-23T17:11:13

yes, it's advertising. It's just not subliminal.