Imagine an audience at the movie theater on an average day.  They are watching a new movie that has been released, and all are becoming excited for the program.  Little does the audience know, however, that the words “drink Coke” and “eat popcorn” are flashing intermittently on the movie screen at a rate they are not able to be consciously realize. Then, in effect, the sales of Coke and popcorn skyrocket, resulting in more money for the advertisers and production companies.  The bad news is that this scheme was actually broadcasted in the news as being real in New Jersey throughout the 1950s.  Fortunately, the good news rests in the study’s author, James Vicary, who admitted later that he had faked the entire endeavor to publicize his advertising business (“Advertising” par. 12). This is the first case in which Americans heard about this unfamiliar possibility:  subliminal messages in advertising.  Although this event was more than 50 years ago, there is still little the public seems to know about subliminal advertising.  This ignorance results in fear and blind faith in the powers of the unknown.  However, subliminal advertising is ineffective because these messages are not commonplace, display rudimentary commands, produce a placebo effect, mimic classical conditioning, and require a desire.