Four videos: New technologies, like TiVo, are encouraging new never before seen advertising models.  With more and more viewers fast-forwarding to skip through commercials, more advertisements are constructed in slow-motion so as to re-appear on-screen in “real-time." But another curious tactic is also occurring – new forms of subliminal content: GE One Second Theatre. ...or, placing ads within ads.

With personal digital video recorders, viewers now have the ability to watch all TV frame-by-frame.  And so, to encourage this closer inspection of advertising content, corporations are embedding subliminal content to surprise and entertain viewers… like this GE commercial with the dancing elephant in the rain forest.  At first glimpse, this is a fairly typical 45 second ad. But now, lets look closer:

One Second Theatre #2: For starters, we are reminded how TiVo cooperated with General Electric by asking TiVo owners to the “press thumbs up” button on their remote.  This insidious style of cross-platform promotion is nothing new, but, something deeper is also happening.

One Second Theatre #3: When the ad is slowed down even more, we see hidden content.  A red theatre curtain, images, and text.

One Second Theatre #4: Slowed down yet again, we begin to see an entirely new and different embedded advertisement.  Of course, “The Lost Casting Tapes” is simply another promotional device to entice viewers to investigate GE advertising.

Subliminal advertising has a long and nefarious history in broadcast television.  Oddly, there are few FCC guidelines in theses matters. Watch TV more critically – and less often.  You will quickly see the differences between technical glitches, and the techniques used by corporations to exploit viewers and new technologies.

Now, can you see it again in this GE commercial?

Here's another by Iron Chef and McDonalds.

And, another pathetic "trick" to promote KFC and CBS.

Consider visual literacy and grow better media communication.