Dr. Key's book, "The Clam Plate Orgy" is another astonishing realization that there really is no more powerful entity than the ad agencies. In "The Clam Plate Orgy", the average reader will find that Dr. Wilson Key has dumbed his theories down a bit, thus making the book a pleasure to read. Much more understandable than "Subliminal Seduction". Keep your mind open when reading this. Don't deny your eyes, for what they see is real.

I have studied subliminal techniques for 30 years and I started because I read Key's first book, Subliminal Seduction. This book has examples from his previous works and need not be purchased if you have read them. If you have not been introduced to the world of subliminal art and have not read Key, you should get a copy. Subliminal means those images perceived at the unconscious level. Great artists through the ages have included subliminal embeds in their work and the world of commercial art uses them constantly. There is no "hard" evidence that hidden messages can change our belief system or behavior pattern, but the fact that creative artists and advertising specialists continue to use them might indicate they ARE effective. You will have to understand the psychology of perception to appreciate the possibility that you can be manipulated by hidden messages in visual images to accept Key's premise. For example, why would commercial artists continue to do it if there were no evidence that it works? Simply put, sex,guilt,power,greed,etc. does sell! Try the book and read more and see what you think. It is worth the time and money.

Key has an uncanny insight into a subject that more people should become aware of. Most readers might say that it is difficult enough to control their own lives without having to worry about outside influences affecting their very thinking. This is where you will miss the boat so to speak by not taking the information in this book seriously. Nikolai Tesla compared most of humanity to "meat machines" and it seems he was right. The manipulation of our minds is more far reaching than even he could have guessed. What is being hidden from the machines (us)?

Key's book, published in 1976, discusses the Beatles' "Sgt. Pepper" album at some length using language remarkably similar to that in Joan Peyser's 1967 essay "The Beatles and the Beatless."

I put the word "sensible" in the summary since it is believable to those readers who are cynical of the obvious and also psychologically sophisticated. Key's point is that the advertisers who fashion the consumer culture do not solely rely on messages that are geared for the consumers logical,conscious mind. The advertisers have a card up their sleeve-in the form of subliminal (AKA unconscious) material. Because information that can enter the unconscious cannot be defended against or be constructively criticized, it would be money in the bank for merchants to slip their product in there. Key's claim that there are embedded words and pictures in all print media can be tested by anyone willing to train their eyes to it. Besides his damming expose on this illegal procedure, Key does a great job in analyzing cultures taboos and fears and how the advertisers co-opt psychoanalysis for consumerism. Needles to say, if one does not believe in depth-psychlogy, this book will be more difficult to comprehend.

You'll read about (and see color pictures of) ad campaigns, rock albums and movies that Key claims contain subliminal messages of sex and violence to entice and enlist you as a consumer. Find out about the Paul McCartney death hoax, secret sounds of angry bees in The Exorcist, and a cigarette ad in Penthouse that, if held up to light, has an L&M poking out of a certain part of the female anatomy that appears on an image on the following page (in the original copy of the magazine, not in this book). All the examples are pre-1980 and, though it is highly doubtful that any of it is part of any orchestrated effort to enslave people as consumers, some of it surely represents the undercover work of mischevious, underpaid, disgruntled advertising artists and photographers. Take it with a grain of salt, but rest assured that you can one-up your super-hip, cynical, quasi-intellectual friends by having this on your coffee table (mess with their minds! Convince them you believe it!)

I haven't yet finished this book. It started out o.k., much like his earlier books, but after a few chapters he strayed wildly off of the subject (subliminal manipulation) and I've been waiting for him to get back to it. At this point he has talked about politics, the nature of truth, philosophy, language, Aristotelian logic.......all without any support for his opinions. Read his earlier books instead.

I stumbled across this book by mere chance. Ironically enough, the title lured me in. This book is not for the faint of heart. The author is incredibly well educated in his field of study and experience. The reality he sets before us can be mind numbing and liberating. A phoenix from the ashes. Should be required reading for all middle school students because of the education the author poses. Consumer debt grows in proportion with industries growth and Wilson Bryan Key explains the techniques ad agencies use to rape the American people. As the author stresses throughout "theories are not fact" and that we need to "watch ourselves". I wholly agree with the authors approach because it is not subtle nor intimidating... it is just powerful. Truth in advertising is about as meaningful as Politics being considered a science. This is a must read for every individual in the United States and abroad. This can help you realize that not only are you not alone but that advertising is not a "victimless crime". DO NOT SUPPORT YOUR OWN DEMISE. I cannot stress enough that Dr. Key is the closest thing to a consumer advocate if there ever was one. I only hope there will one day be someone as well versed and competent as Dr. Key to fill the shoes of the "Master of Exposure". Some of us are truely endebted to the wonderful insight Dr. Key has given. Endulge your senses and explore the real world in which you live. All we can ask is, "Dr. Key, when does the next lesson begin?"

this book is really waking up to real reality,how they construct reality thro our mind,or how they control us thro....so if you want to be alive for real it is time to begin before you only will see what they want you to see,if it is not happening now.there is another book called matrix v master work on reality creation etc.books by eldon taylor tells nothing and are verry poor in reality.

This book is just another example of Key's warped mind, looking for images of donkeys copulating in a picture of a clam-plate which appeared on a Howard Johnson's menu! Sure, every once in a while you can see things in ads, and sometimes they may have been placed there intentionally, but there is no evidence whatsoever that these subliminals have any effect on behavior. If Key had a doctorate in psychology rather than in journalism (or whatever) he would not write such malarkey. well, maybe he would since this has certainly been lucrative for him.

If you want to find out the truth about subliminal stimuli, read "In the Mind's Eye: Enhancing Human Performance"which was written by the National Research Council (National Academy Press). Now, have you found the hidden message in this review? If not, I'll be blunt: DON'T BELIEVE EVERYTHING YOU READ!

I believe that Key is very honest and sincere in the way he presents his work, but honestly, does anybody take this kind of thing seriously? He obvoius has a very warped and twisted mind to see the things he sees in such innocent pictures.

Truth is, if you WANT to see depictions of bestiality or what have you in a plate of clams, or a naked man on a packs of Camels, YOU WILL! That doesn't mean it is there, it just means the person who saw it there wanted to see it.

This book is the most unique of all of Key's books. It follows Key around the world as he follows the beginning of his study into subliminals messages, and his up-hill battle into proving their exsistence. From US to Canada to Vietnam, this book is Key's best work. Highly recommended. Also has several pictorial examples of subliminal messages.

In this book, Wilson Bryan Key claims that advertisers spend millions of dollars a year inserting subliminal, racy images into advertisements. By unconsciously appealing to our prurient interests, Key claims, these ads make us want to buy the product.

An interesting idea. Problem is, Key neglects to tells us where he got the "millions of dollars" figure; he doesn't provide us with any whistle-blowers who have done this alleged work; and he never provides any proof that even if this "subliminal seduction" were taking place, that it actually works.

The thing is, ads of this sort (though much more innocent) were indeed tested in the late 1950s in TV commercials. In the middle of a commercial the words "Buy Coke" would appear for a split second, too fast for the conscious mind to register. But the test results were inconclusive, and the idea was abandoned.

But here comes Wilson Bryan Key, who claims to see breasts and decapitated heads in photos of ice cubes (I have owned this book for 20 years, and I still can't find them). He produces a fashion ad with two women in it, and deduces that they are secretly lesbians. He has also found secret dirty lyrics in pop records; he cites the 1973 hit "Hooked on a Feeling," and claims that the opening goofy refrain "Oooga-shucka" later changes to a quieter "Who got sucked off" as the rest of the music fades in. I have that record, and nothing of the sort ever happens.

I worked in New York advertising for five years, on both the creative and business sides. Nothing like this was ever done. Key has no concept of what the advertising world is really about, which is trying to come up with an interesting, honest way to attract someone to a product. It's also about meeting client and printer deadlines. Outside of that, there simply would not be any time to engage in the type of shenanigans Key espouses.

In short, Key's claims come straight from his imagination. He simply has found a niche audience who will believe his ideas without so much as an ounce of proof or critical thinking.

an **extraordinarily** silly book. a caketaker. is there a weiner in yr ice cube? is sex written in lemon juice (therefore invisible. just ask a boyscout) all over the advertisement for baby food? why didnt i think of this myself?
marvellous excreta.
similar to the wm castlesque gimickry of inserting "drink coke" frames during movies, which influenced absolutely no-one to drink coke or anything else, "subliminal seduction" combines this subtlety w/ the blatancy of the true wm castle gimmick, "percepto," which wired the seats to give every several moviegoer a shock in the behind during a 4th rate horror flick.
knowing disgruntled designers as i do - & believe me, i do - i can imagine well things like the "little mermaid" "fiasco" (i believe a weiner in an, um, state o' erectile grace hidden on the videobox. goodness it is often not fun to work for a disney subcontractor! anyway) & have seen similar (while having not perpetrated similar. dont get me wrong), done purposefully as sabots thrown amongst the gears of commerce. i have a hardtime imagining some tired & otherwise preoccupied ad execs either deciding or being compelled to insert peculiar, if not obscene, effluvia into their hardwon advertisements. designers would get a kick out of doing this, but it would be known all over town if they did.

An ground breaking book that finally puts most of the subliminal theory and practice into a very readable and informative format.