It took me quite a while to realise the above, but I think I'm onto something. 
Were you stuck to the sofa then? Page 6
Quote: Kenneth @ September 19 2009, 4:08 AM BSTIsn't Penn and Teller: Bullshit! broadcast in the UK? Should be mandatory viewing. Scooby Doo also teaches viewers that spooky stuff is fake.
It is on FX (I like that show) but to be fair to Mr Brown he did say it would only effect less than 50% of the viewers plus...
a) He never claimed it was any magicial powers, it is all to do with psychology.
b) I WASN'T STUCK TO MY SEAT BY MAGIC GLUE.
Quote: RubyMae - Glamourous Snowdrop at Large @ September 19 2009, 12:47 PM BSTIt is on FX (I like that show) but to be fair to Mr Brown he did say it would only effect less than 50% of the viewers plus...
a) He never claimed it was any magicial powers, it is all to do with psychology.
b) I WASN'T STUCK TO MY SEAT BY MAGIC GLUE.
Normal glue? Something else ?
Before everyone jumps on the band wagon here of "HE IS FULL OF CRAP", I would like to point B out. I may have been the only one here who had a reaction but I did so there must be a little something to it (unless you have decided I am a lying nutcase to which my response is "whatever"). Okay, I agree he is way too overhyped and last weeks lottery thing was confusing but he isn't claiming to be magical or have unique abilities, IT'S PSYCHOLOGY AND MATHS and he isn't the first guy to use those kind of methods. Those methods have been used by professions for years.
Quote: Tim Walker @ September 19 2009, 12:03 PM BSTSimple. I predict that he will point out all of the above at the end of the series.
I still think you're giving the guy too much credit.
I got hypnotized once. I humped a chair, striped on stage and acted like Sean Connery. What I remember is not that I thought I was hot for a chair, was a stripper or that I was Sean Connery but instead "hey those are some great ideas!".
Power of persuasion I suppose.
Quote: Curt @ September 19 2009, 1:15 PM BSTI got hypnotized once. I humped a chair, striped on stage and acted like Sean Connery. What I remember is not that I thought I was hot for a chair, was a stripper or that I was Sean Connery but instead "hey those are some great ideas!".
And you only went in for help to quit smoking.
Quote: Kevin Murphy @ September 19 2009, 1:20 PM BSTAnd you only went in for help to quit smoking.
I did! He promised free 'Quit Smoking' help to anyone who went on stage for his 'adult hypnotizing show'. Then the next day he had moved onto another city. 
There's a great story in DB's book. Probably apocryphal.
A stage hypnotist, having realised his punter isn't really all that suggestible, whispers to him "Listen mate, just play along and I'll give you fifty quid after the show."
The punter duly plays along, acting like a chicken or whatever.
After returning him to his seat, the hypnotist says aloud "After I snap my fingers you will wake up. You will remember everything that happened, but you will also be convinced that I offered you fifty quid to play along. No matter what your friends and family say, you will be adamant that that is what happened" and snaps his fingers.
You have to have it done to you to really understand. I was didn't believe in hypnotism either until I was hypnotized. The only things he said to us was "If you are drunk, then get off the stage because I'm about to make you very sick" and "You have to accept what I am doing and stop being skeptical for at least the next few minutes".
My buddy was on stage beside me and was drunk and as the hypnotist predicted my drunk friend had to run off the stage to the toilet to puke. I did as was requested and it worked.
Echoing a lot of Tim.
There is a fine line in subliminal messages / techniques that comes down to the terms and definitions you use to describe it. The Derren Brown kinda subliminal is suggestion by mouth not image. The swirly lines were barely subliminal. Images need an association to be subliminal. Swirly lines are typical 60s B-movie brainwashing stereotypes so it's a very loose association. The flash images of a man tied to a chair was as close to subliminal as it got but even they were handled poorly (too long on the screen allowing you to consciously see the image and accompanied by a warning beep.) Both subverted the point of being truly subliminal which I suspect is what his game was about.
However, subliminals have been used by advertisers for years - Vance Packard's "Hidden Persuaders" is a late 50s book documenting the massive R&D by companies in subliminal and psychological marketing. Their basic aim is to elicit a deep-rooted behaviour or response.
Some of their logic seems counter-productive but apparently pays off. Licquer and cigarette companies found hidden images of death in ads increased sales, despite the unpleasant (if subconscious) associations. The images increased anxiety in their target market, and that anxiety produced a need to drink or smoke to relieve it.
The controversy still rages. The New Scientist reported in 2006 that there was strong evidence for subliminal imaging. And the beeb in 2007 reports subliminals have an unconscious effect even if the conscious mind misses them (which is kinda the whole point about subliminals anyway). It is this kind of suggestion to the subconscious that DB uses to get somebody to pick out a giraffe in a toy shop. It's shaping the thoughts of an individual to produce what appears to be free-will but is only the product of outside manipulation. The scary thing is the degree to which our freewill is actually an illusion and how easily we can hand it over to somebody else.
However, the biggest clue as to whether subliminals work in ads is that companies still resort to spending on subliminals which suggests they think it works and it's worth the money. Coke and Disney esp use these types of image.
Many companies associate their product with more basic needs on the pyramid of needs. This can be done consciously or unconsciously. Sex is unsurprisingly the word most often planted (e.g. Skittles Sexplosion along with pepsi's neon 'sex'). And sex organs or sex acts the most popular images (the Coke BJ in an icecube being the most famous). Here are some great examples interspersed with some not so great ones: http://www.artistmike.com/Temp/SubliminalAd.html
Here's a recent though sledgehammer example: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nnSssaGUneI
Ironic adverts (like the recent Alpen one) the thrusting asses, opening legs, etc, still link sex with the product. And this is a classic unsubtle Obama: http://www.blogcatalog.com/blog/subliminal-messaging/2e9ee33ba3805216bdf0fba7ca7410a9
Quote: RubyMae - Glamourous Snowdrop at Large @ September 19 2009, 12:52 PM BSTBefore everyone jumps on the band wagon here of "HE IS FULL OF CRAP", I may have been the only one here who had a reaction but I did so there must be a little something to it
and last weeks lottery thing was confusing but he isn't claiming to be magical or have unique abilities, IT'S PSYCHOLOGY AND MATHS and he isn't the first guy to use those kind of methods. Those methods have been used by professions for years.
Agreed Roo, in that you felt an effect. I'm not going to say he's full of crap - he's too clever for that but he is using deception in his explanations. It's got to be a final series reveal behind the smokescreen. He's going to show how the seemingly magical is basically ordinary and easy to replicate if you know how.
And it wasn't maths for the lottery. It was a simple deception. Or else computer programmers and mathematicians would all be winning the lottery. But it was definitely psychology on the audience and the control group to give the appearance that his smoke screen was plausible.
Quote: SlagA @ September 19 2009, 2:56 PM BSTMany companies associate their product with more basic needs on the pyramid of needs. This can be done consciously or unconsciously. Sex is unsurprisingly the word most often planted (e.g. Skittles Sexplosion along with pepsi's neon 'sex'). And sex organs or sex acts the most popular images (the Coke BJ in a bubble being the most famous). Here are some great examples interspersed with some not so great ones: http://www.artistmike.com/Temp/SubliminalAd.html
Hahah!
Some of those are fair enough, some make me think this man needs some therapy (or more likely some of that SEX he's so fond of) and some I just can't see what he's getting at even with a closeup and diagram.
Yep, agreed some are not that great and should be excluded but when the real subliminals are pointed out you wonder how you ever missed them. Which, I guess, is the true art in subliminal.
I can't find some of the better collections of ads I used to visit.
The woman's hand on the mouse is a good one. Although barely subliminal!
But his seeing SEX written in Hermione's hair just means she should take out a restraining order. What a creepy freako.
Quote: SlagA @ September 19 2009, 2:57 PM BSTMany companies associate their product with more basic needs on the pyramid of needs. This can be done consciously or unconsciously. Sex is unsurprisingly the word most often planted (e.g. Skittles Sexplosion along with pepsi's neon 'sex'). And sex organs or sex acts the most popular images (the Coke BJ in an icecube being the most famous). Here are some great examples interspersed with some not so great ones: http://www.artistmike.com/Temp/SubliminalAd.html
Here's a recent though sledgehammer example: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nnSssaGUneI
Ironic adverts (like the recent Alpen one) the thrusting asses, opening legs, etc, still link sex with the product. And this is a classic unsubtle Obama: http://www.blogcatalog.com/blog/subliminal-messaging/2e9ee33ba3805216bdf0fba7ca7410a9
To be honest, some of the ones where he claims there is "sex" written appears to be due to his own freudian issues!