To answer OP, you can find some researches backing up the effectiveness of subliminal messaging, but you’ll also find some that don’t conclude on any evidence. It’s like many subjects in science, most researches keep contradicting each other. So you’d rather base your opinion on your own experience.
However, scientific studies are a really good thing, and help understand better how the subconscious work and how we can make subliminal audio more effective. For example these studies are interesting:
https://lapsuspsych.com/2015/02/11/mommy-is-inside-of-me-the-strange-experiments-of-subliminal-psychodynamic-activation/.
They show a few things:
- Firstly, yep, the subjects did react to the subliminal message (but it was a visual cue).
- In one study, some subjects’ condition worsened while others beneficied from the message. That shows that everybody reacts differently to subliminal messages depending on how they are interpreted by their subconscious. That’s something that even vendors themselves sometimes forget. Some insist that their latest products’ version are the most effective and that old versions should be discarded, but they don’t take into account that just one word can litteraly worsen your result because you can react differently to it. This also shows that some people, no matter what they want, may not respond well to subliminals at all. So quitting a subliminal is a valid option rather than hanging on to the same products for years thinking they’ll magickaly work. If that comes at a negligible cost, why not? But if you have to spend (and keep spending) hundreds for that, think twice.
- The study may also suggest that the subconscious mind only respond to subliminal messages that evokes symbolization or an emotional response to them. And tbh this is not surprising giving that symbolisme, emotions and imagery are the “main” ways to communicate with the subconscious mind. The real question is how much should a message be symbolized in order for the subconscious to understand it? Maybe we don’t even need that…But that’s not what these studies suggest at least.
And I could go on but my point is that it is good to seek evidences. We learn a lot from that and that’s with all these contradictions that we sort out rules, what works and what doesn’t, and under what circumstances.
But as I like to say, studies are just studies. I think 80% of studies you can find about subliminal messages are based on visual cues (e.g flashing symbols and messages) and many did conclude on positive effects at the end. However, I personally did try that and I absolutely didn’t notice any effect at all on me.
That’s to say: even if science says X is true and leads to Y, that may not nescessarily be the case for you. So even if all the studies in the world say subliminals don’t work, you can still give it a go, and because you are YOU and not someone else, it may work for you.
So as you see that’s complicated!
But at least, in 2019 we do know that the subconscious DOES process subliminal stimuli. Like, just take a look at this random study:
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/j.1360-0443.1973.tb01228.x.
We should shift now the questions to How do we properly communicate with the subc, the most effective way?
