Red-Light Cameras Not So Special?
Cubs Combat Casino
PHOTOS: Peaches And Amanda Blank At Metro
The Return of The Chicagoist Reader Meet-Up
County Sales Tax Rollback Vetoed - Here We Go Again
If watching Homaro Cantu make maki made you want to eat a Big Mac on Sunday night, you aren't alone. The Food Network's "Iron Chef America" and Oakbrook-based McDonald's are catching some heat after a McDonald's logo and the phrase "I'm Lovin' It" appeared for a split second during the show.
What's the story? Is The Food Network going all "Saved By the Bell" on viewers? Not so fast, says Food Network spokesman Mark O'Connor, who explained, "It was a technical error on our part and not a subliminal message as suggested by a Web site running the slow-motion playback." McDonald's spokesman Bill Whitman concurred, saying "We don't do subliminal advertising."
We don't work in TV, so maybe we don't understand — how would one frame accidentally be shown? Kottke provides two possible answers. The first possibility is the very obvious "it wasn't an accident" excuse. Sweet. We love a good conspiracy here at Chicagoist. The second possibility, which was suggested by Michael Buffington, is that a local market cable ad was dropped onto the national feed. We aren't sure what that means, but it sounds decidedly less sinister. Thoughts?
add to stumble upon
add to reddit
tweet this
post to facebook
i think this was clearly subliminal. seems like too much of a coincidence not to be and why wouldn't advertisers try this. with the advent of dvr's, i would imagine we'll be seeing more of this type of stuff
I would buy the "local cable ad" thing, if it weren't for one very suspicious detail: the frame didn't appear *anywhere* near a scheduled ad break. I mean, if it appeared 20 or 30 seconds before a break, *maybe*... but it didn't. And if it were an ad drop accident, why wouldn't the random frame inserted be a random frame from the ad, not a *crystal clear* frame of the *logo and tag line*.
I think the first theory is the simplest explanation. Busted.
test
I swear I saw a single subliminalesque frame of a woman in lingerie last week while watching some basic cable program, so perhaps this is either a common glitch or The Man really is starting some subliminal program on our unsuspecting selves.
Of course it just could have been my crazy brain playing tricks (some kind of libido mirage), but I don't think so.