I was pondering the usefulness of subliminal messages and how best to tweak them.

I'm going to completely put aside the aspect of subliminal audio recordings. It's been fairly well tested that those subliminal audio tapes one makes and orders has a limited effect in spite of the testimonials that are offered by product manufactures to sell their audio recording.

I have my doubts about these audio subliminal because even when you are consciously listening for a message none can be perceived.

So what are the other factors that makes a subliminal an effective?

First let's just examine the meaning of "subliminal". It simply means that conscious recognition does not happen in the presence of a stimuli; the stimuli is perceived but consciously ignored.

Because our nervous system can at best only perceive 5 to 9 things at one time this happens all the time on a daily basis in our normally sensory rich environment.

This introduces another factor that is involved in making a good subliminal. It is the factor of distraction. If the conscious mind can be focused enough on one message that it does not recognize a second message then the second message is functionally subliminal.

Therefore if more time is devoted to making a compelling cover massage it is most likely that subliminal message will not be recognized.

Below are two example of subliminal. The first is a PDF that you can print out and hand to anyone. Ask them what think as they read it. You'll note that some may recognize that there is a watermark as part of the background but no one will recognize it behind the words. Most people will not even comment on it.

The second is a video filled with subliminal.

Check it out for yourself.

Click here to download a watermark subliminal