[...]
[T]he box mingles bland music with subliminal anti-theft messages ("I am honest. I will not steal"). Repeated rapidly -- 9,000 times an hour -- and at very low volume, the words are barely audible to shoppers and employees. But they do register in some deep recess of the brain and apparently influence behavior.
About 50 department stores in the U.S. and Canada have installed the devices to reduce shoplifting and employee theft. One undisclosed East Coast chain is said to have cut the number of thefts by 37%, for a saving of $600,000, during a nine-month trial. The device also seems to be catching up on other businesses. In Toronto, a real estate office uses a black box to inspire sales personnel ("I love real estate. I will prospect for new listings for clients each and every day"). Says black box inventor Hal C. Becker: "I see no reason why there won't be audio-conditioning in the same way we now have air conditioning."
[...]
A television commercial for children's toys included the subliminal message "Get it!" until the Federal Communications Commission issued a warning against further TV or radio subliminations. In the movie The Exorcist the image of a death mask was flashed before audiences to give them an extra scare. [...]
[...] Romberg says that he is providing subliminal pep talks to hockey's Montreal Canadiens, and Becker is working with an unidentified National Football League team. The box is also being used by psychologists to help people lose weight, stop smoking and overcome phobias like the fear of flying. If subliminals were put on TV, explains Becker, they could be directed specifically at such killers as obesity, drugs and bad driving. . . .
[...] politicians and advertisers [...] wanted to hire [Becker]. [...]
