Subliminal Message Tapes Are Marketed as Self-Help Aids

Soft classical music plays from an overhead sound system in the offices of Mind Communication Inc. as telephone operators take orders for the company’s subliminal self-help audio- and videocassettes.

It may seem that they are hearing Mozart, but the 40 employees are test subjects for the company’s theory that subliminal suggestions offer an easy way to improve people’s lives.

The music masks suggestions designed to motivate the employees to overcome procrastination and to be more productive. Among the messages are the statements “I do it today” and “I take action now.”

“I’ve had it in for two weeks and I’ve seen a huge difference,” said company President Paul Tuthill from his office in Wyoming, a suburb of Grand Rapids. “The good people have improved immensely, and the people who are marginal or shirkers quit.”

Mind Communication, which reported sales of $3.5 million for 1989, is one of several companies in the self-help tape industry, which takes in an estimated $50 million a year. Two competitors are also based in Michigan: Potentials Unlimited Inc. of Grand Rapids, which claims to be the biggest, and Midwest Research Inc. of Walled Lake, a suburb of Detroit.

The premise is that people do recognize information presented below the normal threshold of awareness, manufacturers say. Hundreds or even thousands of subliminal suggestions lurk beneath the soothing music or the sound of ocean waves on an audio cassette or behind the nature on a videotape, they say.

Mind Communication offers about 300 titles by direct mail. The subjects range from weight loss and improving sex--two of the biggest sellers--to controlling spending habits and becoming a better bowler. There are even tapes for children designed to build their self-esteem and to encourage them to stop bed-wetting.

Subliminal messages have been raising eyebrows since the 1950s, when it was reported that by flashing “Eat Popcorn” during a movie, theatergoers rushed for the concession stand, unaware they had been subliminally persuaded.

In recent years, it appears, millions of consumers have brushed aside the diabolic connotations associated with mind control and the comparisons to “Brave New World” to plunk down between $10 and $40 for something that promises to be a shortcut to solving problems and breaking bad habits.

The 60-minute tapes, most of which provide scripts of their messages, are prominently displayed near self-help books in national bookstore chains. Publishing companies such as Simon & Schuster, Random House and Bantam Books have recently devised their own versions.

Little independent research has been done in the area of self-help subliminals. Many of the companies cite self-conducted studies and point to individual testimonials to back up their claims that the tapes work.

Although many respected researchers accept the validity of subliminal perception, they say there is no proof that self-help tapes work.

“They’re a waste of time and money,” said Howard Shevrin, a University of Michigan psychologist who has been involved in subliminal research for more than 30 years. Shevrin said that even if there is a behavioral change in some people, it is impossible to trace it to the tapes.

Shevrin also says that the tapes could have harmful side effects on some people, an assertion that Tuthill agrees with.

“Theoretically, they could be harmful with forced prolonged exposure,” Tuthill said. “If the message is noxious or contrary to what you want, people have actually developed some bizarre symptoms.”

Tuthill said he has seen a smoker exposed to a stop-smoking tape develop headaches and heart palpitations. The symptoms stopped when the person stopped listening to it. Tuthill puts warning labels on his weight-loss tapes because, he says, there have been reports from pediatricians that children inadvertently exposed to the tapes were losing weight.

Two Canadian psychology professors who have done independent research call the tapes a health fraud.

Timothy Moore of York University’s Glendon College in Toronto said some of the tapes he has studied apparently contain no hidden message at all.

Philip Merikle of the University of Waterloo in Ontario said an analysis of tapes made by several companies found that there is no identifiable signal on them that could penetrate the subconscious. He also said the placebo effect could account for some of the success stories.

“We’ve known for hundreds of years that effective treatments are ones that people believe are going to work,” he said.

“It’s not inconceivable that 20% to 30% of these people could report real improvement, but not for the reasons used by the manufacturers,” he said. “But if 25% of the people who listen to these tapes stop smoking, that’s great. That’s also the irony of it.”