New spam technique uses subliminal messages to manipulate users
PandaLabs has detected a spam message that uses subliminal advertising techniques. At first glance, it is an advertisement that gives the user the opportunity to buy certain stocks online. However, the user not only sees a static image, but also a sequence of images that are displayed extremely rapidly. To be more specific, there are four images, three of which show the word Buy in different positions.
Subliminal advertising techniques have been used for a long time and are based on composing images that users perceive, even though they are not aware of it. In the case of this email message, the word Buy appears on screen for a maximum of 40 milliseconds, and in some cases, for only 10 milliseconds. By doing this, although the recipient is not consciously aware of the Buy message, the subconscious levels of perception receive it and store it, influencing the recipient.
