Part I: Questions without answers*

(* Answers can be found on other pages. Seek and ye shall find.)

Which cigarette ad contained this 'masturbating' young man?  And, if you don't think he is supposed to be masturbating you can see how Picasso represented this form of behaviour in one of his paintings by clicking here.

Which ad made use of the Mercedes logo in place of Marilyn Monroe's beauty spot?  It was a Merc ad, of course.

Which beer company (with lots of buddies in the US) has produced an ad that seems to allude to a connection between their beer, their customers, sex and sheep?   Do their customers act like sheep, or what?  Before you let your imagination run riot, seek out the answer on this site.

What is this camel about to get up to and in which cigarette ad will you find this imagery?   The unethical nature of this type of advertising could lead one to conclude this ad constituted unfair comment on a competitor.

[Note the background of this image has been 'blacked out' to make the figures more easily discernible.  You can find it in the bottom right hand corner of the relevant advert.]

What is brewing on the tip of this man's tongue?  It usually has three letters and can be oral in nature.

Which cigarette ad contained the 'devilish' face (on the left of this extract). It is lit from the below left, leaving the upper right cheek and the top of the head in shade. In addition, the central figure is almost like an insect with antennae.  Could it be a 'little devil'? If so, the complete ad also contains a few of their relatives and some 'customers'.

Which ad contained two 'deathly white' individuals 'kissing'?  If you found the ad with the masturbating young man, look around the same page(s) and you will also find this image (the ad appeared as both a single and a double page spread).  The ad also contains a few other semi-subliminal items of equal interest. Note: the image has multiple focal points and can also be perceived as a single 'face' with a beard.

[Note this image is similar to a number of classic visual illusions.  It offers features that can be interpreted as either one face or as two.]

Part II : Images with answers*

(*Answers are at the end of the section. Note that there are no alternative message associated with these images in order not to spoil your fun. Click on the image if you wish to see a larger version of the ad. )

Benson and Hedges (UK) claim to offer oral satisfaction. Given time they'll permanently pull the plug on smoking and the other activity that is marginally represented in this ad.  What is odd about this ad?

[Note this ad has been brightened to allow the wiring to stand out against the background]

Here we have Jim Beam - he's a real flash guy. Light a match where his message is and you will get more than your fingers burned. But he also has a lot more to hide. Check out the larger image and you'll note that the robot is sexually charged.

See Jim's Beaming for more Jim Beam ads.

Good 'Old Joe' - he's defunct now but his spirit lives on.  There has always been more to this Camel's life than giving the hump and lots of youngsters fell for this self parody, courtesy of J.R. Reynolds.

This animated illustration has nothing to hide. It is simply a taster for the Camel ads discussed elsewhere.  These have lots of 'hidden' features.  

Part III : What you have been missing?

If you haven't been unusually observant in the past you will not have noticed the 'hidden' elements in the ads presented above. Each advert incorporates something that in lay persons language would probably be described as subliminal advertising or as attempts at subliminal persuasion. A more appropriate term, as indicated elsewhere - and often - in these Web pages, would be semi-subliminal information.

Normally you would not notice these aspects of an advert as they are on the borderline of perceptual ability and extremely well disguised.  But - once they have been drawn to your attention - they become difficult to overlook. Anyone who saw Bob Loblaw's pages concerning the images embedded in the opening screen of Windows95 knows what I mean.  To test the impact these ads, and a little bit of attention, might have on viewers it is suggested that you return to view the site someday.    When your return you will recognize virtually every semi-subliminal image that you identified, even though you might have had difficulty recognizing the 'hidden' elements initially.

This is what you missed in Part II

• The Benson and Hedges ad has the wires twisted into the letters S E X, or at least as close as one can get to this configuration without being too obvious.   Beats the Kama Sutra any time! Check it out by clicking here.
• The Jim Beam ad has 'forked lighting' S E X in the groin area ( the letter e is reversed).   Flashy stuff! Check it out by clicking here.
• The Stella Artois ad uses condensation underneath the glass to spell SeX (the letters are upside down). Check it out by clicking here or here for two separate entries regarding this ad.
• The ice cubes in the Disarrono ad is formed from rather unhappy faces - four small faces form one large, equally unhappy, one. Check it out on by clicking here.
• Although not all that clear, in the original Gordon's Gin ad you can perceive a 'drowning' face in the bottom left hand corner ( more than one 'figure' can actually be perceived in this image ).  The principal 'figure' is rather reminiscent of Spider Man and other hooded cartoon characters. A slightly clearer reproduction is offered below.   Whether one accepts this is an image of a drowning person will largely depend upon how familiar one is with Gordon's  Gin advertising over the years.     See the AAAA ad in Ads from the Archives for another example of a 'drowning' drinker.