The Secret Sales Pitch: An Overview of Subliminal Advertising

-A fascinating look at how media manipulates the mind; -A handbook for marketing, psychology, sociology, and related classes; -A "how to manual" for artists, advertisers, and business people interested in subliminal techniques.

The Secret Sales Pitch argues that, since the 1950s, optical illusions have been secretly embedded in mass media in order to manipulate the public unconsciously. These subliminal images are extremely provocative, and involve nightmarish monsters as well as many forms of erotica. In addition, pictures with subliminal meanings understood only on an unconscious level have secretly aroused viewers’ innermost fears and fantasies.

The author is an attorney who presents the evidence of subliminal advertising as though he were addressing a jury. Although the claims on the cover may initially seem outlandish, the case that is presented is credible and disturbing. The examples that are provided are startling, and intelligently correlated to studies gleaned from psychological journals. The history of subliminal persuasion, from Vance Packard to the present, is thoughtfully reviewed. N.F. Dixon, a respected psychologist and the author of a treatise on subliminal perception, has endorsed Bullock’s work and commented that his interpretations are "convincing and ingenious."

The back cover promises "You will never watch a commercial, make a sales presentation, or look in the mirror the same way again." Even skeptical readers will not be disappointed.