Why is there nothing on the Internet about split second ads that appear to be designed that way?

Question

It seems to me that recently there has been an upswing in commercials that appear to actually be meant to last for less than a tenth of a second. I first started seeing them on the Late Show with Stephen Colbert, the first one being an ad for Greenpeace which would pop up after a car ad or whatever. It was just the Greenpeace logo on a black background, and was clearly readable. I have also seen the same length of "ad" that just said it was paid for by such-and-such family, showing that family playing a board game in their living room.

I have also seen ones that seemed to be cut off from the end of fund raising ads, notably one for Doctors Without Borders, which was much harder to latch onto in freeze frame mode on my DVR than the first two examples. Are these all just cut off bits of longer ads?

You'd likely need to provide some example as to what you're seeing. I think I know what you're talking about, but I can't be sure. — MattD, May 07 '16 at 05:18
What you are probably seeing are ads from the main feed that are supposed to be replaced by local ads or ads from a subfeed, but the replacement ads are not timed right so you are just seeing a split second of a complete ad. — Todd Wilcox, May 07 '16 at 06:10

score -2 · Answer 1 · answered May 08 '16 at 08:47

There are web sites that mentions this type of thing. Just search Google or YouTube for subliminal messages or subliminal advertising. Although some of the ads you see may be chopped off, it is also possible someone is posting ads like this intentionally.

Why is there nothing on the Internet about split second ads that appear to be designed that way?

1 Answers1