subliminal advertising

I noticed that some people (particularly in the Documentary "The Age of Stupid") make a claim that our thoughts are controlled by advertising companies to get us to buy their stuff. This sounds like a rehashed Conspiracy Theory to me. Here's some background. In the 1950s, a man named James...

Source: http://www.datafilter.com How unsurprising. Actually, I have myself heard such "secret messages". Also, people were not as compulsive when it comes to buying things fifty years ago.