TikTok

The Blind Faith of Subliminal TikTok Videos

From ski-sloped noses to a tiny waist: With the use of subliminal messages, TikTok users are promising you anything and everything you want.
subliminals tiktok
TikTok Subliminals promise you anything you could want.

Ski-sloped noses, unblemished skin and plump pink lips have long careened across For You Pages on TikTok. They’ve become popularised attributes of modern perfection.

For most, however, they are unattainable, somewhat clone-esque in fashion and the fad of our time. But while viral make-up tutorials, exercise routines, and recounts of surgery go viral across the platform, there’s a niche side of the app that promises an easy fix to any “problems” with self image. All it involves is listening to audio, supposedly designed to hit your subconscious, on repeat. 

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They’re called “Subliminals”: videos created – or hosted – with the intention of using subliminal messaging. Though they’ve been a staple on Youtube for a number of years, Subliminals have since made their way into the TikTok universe. They promise an answer to your manifestations, whether that be quicker hair growth, a perfect smile or changing the shape of your waist. 

Hidden “affirmation messages” play under sped up or bass-augmented music, while pictures of conventionally attractive women – sometimes celebrities like Lily Rose Depp, Emily Ratajkowski or Kylie Jenner – sit as the back-drop. Though you can’t hear what’s being said, the underlying message is purportedly meant to help you manifest your desires through the subconscious. 

The first time I came across subliminals was through an account named Lolabvnny. “My amazing subliminal results” read the video’s caption. It had 1.4 million views. 

As the clip scrolled through pictures of customer feedback, one user claimed that the size of her nostrils had shrunk, and another said they saw the end of their nose upturn into a ski slope. The last said Bella Hadid liked her artwork. 

“To put it shortly…” Lolabvnny told VICE, “the benefit is that you get whatever it is that you desire in a rather short period of time, with almost no effort.”

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Lolabvnny claims that by using and creating subliminals she’s changed her appearance and helped others manifest boyfriends, love, attention and popularity.

“It’s pretty simple, everything we say or think is sent to the cosmos through energy. I’m sure many have encountered a phenomenon when they thought of something for a brief moment, or thought of something happening and then it happened the exact same way as they thought,” she said.

“That’s exactly what manifestation is. Many times, we send a signal to the universe through our subconscious without even registering it.”

Unfortunately for Lolabvnny, experts are calling bullshit.

Subliminal messaging has long been a contested subject, but it’s a phenomenon that continuously surfaces in conversation every few years – mostly due to whatever new social media app is trending.

Associate professor Daniel Little, from the Melbourne School of Psychological Services at The University of Melbourne, has researched the efficacy of subliminal perception. He told VICE that he hadn’t found any proof that they actually work, especially not when it comes to changing physical appearance.

“So in the 1950s, you had this subliminal advertising push where marketers were trying to sell popcorn in movie theatres using subliminal messaging. And in the 1970s, there was this fear of government brainwashing. And then in the 1990s, you had this new age, self-help style, which is what this TikTok thing is,” he said.

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“It’ll make its way into the public eye and be promoted by some kind of fantastic claims, those claims will all be debunked, but it'll stick around. And part of the reason for that is because if any kind of misinformation gets out into the public it's very hard to correct it.”

Little calls it “the continued influence effect”, referring to people relying on misinformation even if the theories have been debunked.

“We’re not a very scientific culture. Science in the western way of thinking is only around 300 to 400 years old,” said Little.

“We're a culture of ill-directed faith. We put our faith in things which aren't true, but have other effects, like making us believe that things could be better. We've had non-scientific explanations as part of our history for a lot longer than we've had scientific ones.”

When it comes to subliminal messaging in TikToks, Little denounces claims that they work, although points to placebo as a likely cause of more positive thinking (but definitely not to changing physical attributes). 

He cites a study from the ‘90s that sent self-help cassette tapes to participants, professing to either improve self-esteem or memory. Participants were told that subliminal messages were hidden under classical music, but for half the group the labels were switched so that the messaging didn’t match what the participants believed they were listening to.

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“There was no improvement in memory, but whatever the label said you believed there was an improvement. And it’s the belief that enacts a placebo effect. That’s really the effect of subliminal messaging, but only if you know it’s there.”

“If you have no label, then you wouldn’t have any increase in belief.”

Doctor Simon Ruch, a post-doctoral researcher at the Institute for Neuromodulation and Neurotechnology at The University of Tübingenin in Germany, told VICE that the concept of physical change brought on via subliminal messaging “is just ridiculous.” 

“In my experience, reaching the brain with information that cannot be perceived consciously is very difficult,” he said. “Some web browsers, screens, and headphones might not present the information at all.”

“One could argue that this is the business model of subliminals: A brief affirmation feels good, but leads to no lasting improvement, which causes consumers to come back to the same message again and again. This is similar to the business models of fortune tellers and psychics. They provide a good feeling, but no actual lasting solution to someone's misery. This makes sure that consumers/clients come back.”

Though many claim benefits from subliminal videos, others have pointed to them as a deviant way to get views, promotion and income by feeding off people’s insecurities: “Play this video x3 to get the best results” is a not uncommon demand.

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Despite that, the subliminal community acts like a tight-knit space of believers waiting for a miracle. The comment sections on Lolabvnny’s videos often push the creator to “gatekeep her subs”: Let’s keep the community small, they say. Or else some ppl won’t use them for good.

Of course, the calls for gatekeeping have their own internet drama-laden roots, with accusations of subliminal-entranced murder, bad ethics, and bad practice. Ultimately, though, these are the dramatic turf wars of an internet community born in conspiracy.

What remains is a loyal subliminal fanbase that has become a sect of the TikTok community - one that relies wholly on faith and less on science. 

“I think the science is pretty settled,” said Little. “There's been a lot of studies under controlled situations and there's been no evidence that subliminal messages work.”

“Each individual is entitled to their own kind of pursuit of happiness, and I feel bad that I've got to be the person to say, ‘this probably doesn't work’. But shouldn't you be learning about the world in the way that it is, rather than the world in the way that you want it to be?”

Follow Julie Fenwick on Twitter and Instagram.

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