Subliminal Advertising

 How many of the following products can you recognize?

1.          1. You’ll wonder where the yellow went…

2.         2.  Wake up to _____ in your cup.

3.          3. They’re magically delicious.

4.        4.   Plop, plop, fizz, fizz…

5.         5.  I wish I was an __________.

6.         6.  Double your pleasure, double your fun…

When television advertisers created jingles, they discovered a very important fact. Jingles were catchy, short songs easily remembered and repeated by children. Thus for every time a jingle played on TV, children would repeat it and basically gain the product “free” advertising. If you completed the six examples above, did you sing the jingle as you tried to finish it? Uh-hum. J

Another way companies brand their product is by developing a spokesperson who is in all their ads. Recognize these? Is it possible to say their name without adding the company they’re associated with?

Companies also get you invested in their products by having celebrities in their commercials. State Farm is one of the best known to me as they use several football icons in their commercials. And if you’re a football fan, you think “if it’s good enough for them maybe I should take a look.”

Back in 1967, I did a term paper on subliminal advertising*, the art of projecting indiscernible objects onto a movie or television screen to see if people watching would be influenced by that projection. For example, a small picture of a popcorn box was put into the top corner of the movie screen – flashed for only a tenth of a second – and statistics were kept as to whether popcorn sales increased. Keep in mind sight is only one of our senses; therefore advertisers can bombard us in any number of ways. Think of the last time you walked through a mall (I realize that was a really long time ago) and you smelled caramel popcorn or the rich aroma of roasted coffee. How easily your feet moved you in that direction. * What Is Subliminal Advertising? Definition, Types & More - ShareThis

I find this subject fascinating although I know there can be far reaching effects from such “brainwashing”. You need to be aware that suggestions are being made to you not only with actual commercials (which we tend to walk away from to get our lunch or use the restroom) but within the program itself. For those familiar with the movie “E.T.”, remember what candy became an overnight sensation when the movie came out? Hershey agreed to spend $1 million promoting E.T. in exchange for the rights to use E.T. in its ads. The payoff was huge—the little peanut butter candies saw a reported 65% to 85% jump in profits just two weeks after the movie's premiere.

The examples, of course, are everywhere, but I started thinking about how much closer to home such things were as a writer. Without consciously thinking about it, my heroine asks for a Kleenex when she sneezes; the hero opens the door of his F-150 pick up to take her to the local pizza joint where they have cokes and wood fire pizza. I am certainly not getting paid to use brand names in my writing (wouldn’t that be nice) but do I have to be concerned about saying “coke” instead of “soda”? In some cases, the need to use a brand name helps distinguish and define the people in the story. For example, the hero putting on a North Face jacket tells you he has good (and more expensive) taste and enjoys outside activities. Naming a premium wine choice at the restaurant is similar.

Rights of Writers: Can I Mention Brand Name Products in My Fiction? Is an excellent article by Mark Fowler about the four basic types of brand/trademark problems in writing, with examples of each, but his bottom line is, “The use of brand names in fiction is not a sleep-depriving issue.  It would be obsessive (and stylistically unpalatable) to use the R-in-a-circle symbol or the TM symbol every time you refer to a brand name in your text.  And, as long as you do not write falsely and disparagingly about real brands and the companies who manufacture them, you are unlikely ever to run into a problem.”

I had the delight of sharing some of this discussion with my characters, JC and Charlie in “Loving Charlie Forever”, a time travel. They were trying to figure out what they could “invent” back in 1850s to support themselves, but were having a bit of an integrity crisis worrying about taking away another’s invention before its time. I’ve always liked writing time travels because of the knowledge that some characters have given they’re from the future. Usually though, they don’t have the wherewithal to invent a particular item. And afterall, what fun would that be for the real inventors?

In your reading, and perhaps your writing, you’re likely to run across brand names and chances are, you read right over them with the intent to which they were used. If it bothers you as an author to “promote” a brand name, (afterall, they’re not paying you to mention their product) then use a generic form or eliminate the reference altogether.

If you like time travels, I invite you to check out the following at Books We Love:

"Spinning Through Time"

Prospecting for Love"

"Hold on to the Paat"

"Loving Charlie Forever"

Don't forget to enter BWL's New Year, New You. Visit their website for a chance to win a delightful spa basket!

All Best Wishes,

Barb

http://www.authorsden.com/barbarajbaldwin

https://bookswelove.net/baldwin-barbara/

 

English language - Fun Facts by J. S. Marlo

 

 

 

 

The Red Quilt

"a sweet & uplifting holiday story"

is now available 

click here

J. S. Marlo's BWL Books

I'm currently re-writing and re-plotting a series I wrote over a decade ago. Not only am I having lots of fun with it, but it also made me realize how much I grew as an "English" writer. Here are some fun facts about the English language I dug out while I was brainstorming some new subplots. 

 

A pangram sentence is a sentence using every letter of the alphabet at least once, like The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog.

 

An ambigram is a word that reads the same when turned upside down, like SWIMS.

 

A palindrome is a word that reads the same forward or backward, like racecar, radar, or madam.

 

An anagram is a word or phrase formed by rearranging the letters of a different word or phrase, typically using all the original letters exactly once, like KOBO is an anagram of book, or schoolmaster is an anagram of the classroom.

 

An isogram is a word with no repeating letters. The longest one in English is subdermatoglyphic.

 

An acronym is an abbreviation formed from the initial letters of other words and pronounced as a word. These are some acronyms that have become accepted English words: scuba (self-contained underwater breathing apparatus), laser (light amplification by the stimulated emission of radiation), or sonar (sound navigation and ranging).

 

A contronym is a word having two meanings that contradict one another, like to bolt (to secure or to flee), to buckle (to fasten or to collapse), or left (remained or departed).

 

A portmanteau is a word blending the sounds and combining the meanings of two other words, like brunch (from breakfast and lunch).

 

A capitonym is a word that changes its meaning when its first letter is capitalized, like Turkey (the country) and turkey (the bird).

 

About 4,000 words are added to the dictionary each year. That’s roughly a new word every two hours.

 

The shortest, oldest, and most commonly used word is I, and the shortest complete sentence in the English language is I am.

 

The longest word in English is pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis, which is a type of lung disease caused by inhaling ash and dust.

 

The most common adjective used in English is good, the most commonly used noun is time, and the word run has the highest number of definitions with 645.

 

There are seven ways to spell the sound ee in English. This sentence contains all of them: He believed Caesar could see people seizing the seas.

 

E is the most commonly used letter in the English language, A is the second-most common, and Q is the letter used the least.

 

More English words begin with the letter S than any other letter.

 

The ampersand used to be the 27^th letter of the alphabet. I often use it, and I'm kind of sad it disappeared from the alphabet in the 17^th century.

 

The only one word in the English language contains the letters X, Y, and Z in order is hydroxyzine, and the longest common word with all the letters in alphabetical order is almost.

 

The longest common word you can make using only four letters is senseless, the longest one with no vowels is rhythms, and the only one with three consecutive double letters is bookkeeper. 

 

The first number spelled out that contains the letter A is one thousand. You don’t use the letter B until one billion.

 

Some English words exist only in plural forms, like binoculars, scissors, pants, glasses (spectacles), shears, jeans, and pajamas.

 

In the world, there are 378 million native English speakers (those who speak English as their first language) and 743 million non-native English speakers (those whose first language isn’t English). In average, a native speaker knows between 20,000-35,000 English words.

 

I belong in the non-native group, and I have no idea how many English words I know, but I read somewhere that those who read fiction have a larger vocabulary than those who read non-fiction (fiction tends to contain a wider range of vocabulary than non-fiction) or don’t read.

 

So, happy reading! An adventure, and a few new words, await you between the pages of a new book. Better still, read to a young child and take him or her along on the adventure.

 

Stay warm & stay safe!

 

JS

 

 

J. S. Marlo's Website

 

Happy New Year! by Eileen O'Finlan

 

Click here for purchase information

Click here to visit Eileen O'Finlan's website

I'm sometimes asked why there is no mention of Christmas in either Kelegeen or Erin's Children. The answer is simple. In Kelegeen the characters are too busy trying not to starve to death during Ireland's Great Hunger to celebrate Christmas and in Erin's Children which is set in Massachusetts, the holiday wasn't much celebrated. While the time period for Erin's Children, the 1850s, saw the establishment of Christmas as a holiday in Massachusetts (in 1856) it would still be a while before it got much real attention. Thanksgiving was the really big holiday at the time (you'll find three of them in Erin's Children!) along with George Washington's birthday and the 4th of July. New Year's was also celebrated though not with the same fanfare we associate with the holiday today.

Before 1752 New Years was celebrated on March 25th, the date when the new year started according to the Julian calendar. In colonial times young ladies prepared bowls of wassail and went "wassailing." The word comes from Middle English and means "health to you." The drink consisted of mulled ale or cider and sugar, ginger, cinnamon, and other spices and little bits of toast floating on top. It was also customary to give small gifts on New Years. In the 18th century these gifts were usually oranges decorated with ribbon and spiked with cloves. By the 19th century people began exchanging other gifts, though they were still just small tokens. 

In my current work-in-progress, sixteen year old Jerusha Kendall is given a diary for New Years in 1838. What she writes in it throughout the year piques the interest of Charlotte Lajoie, a folklorist and one of Jerusha's descendants, who uses it to uncover a long-hidden family secret. Thank goodness for New Years presents.

                                     

Baroness Orczy and The Scarlet Pimpernel ~ Fiction and Fact by Rosemary Morris

 To learn more about Rosemary please click on the image above.

 I am a fan of well written historical fiction which recreates past times. After I read Baroness Orczy’s novels about her gallant hero, the scarlet pimpernel, I became curious about the author’s life and times.

 

Baroness Orczy

and

The Scarlet Pimpernel Fiction and Fact

 

                                          “They seek him here, they seek him there,

                                          Those French men seek him everywhere.

                                          Is he in Heaven? – Is he in hell?

                                          That damned annoying Pimpernel.”

 

The Scarlet Pimpernel, Baroness Orczy’s most famous character, is Percy, the gallant daredevil, Sir Percival Blakeney Bart.  He is the hero of her novels and short stories set in The French Revolution, so aptly nick-named The Reign of Terror.   

Orczy was a royalist with no sympathy for the merciless Jacobins who spared no efforts to achieve their political ambitions.  Historical accounts prove everyone in France was at risk of being arrested and sent to the guillotine.  Orczy’s works of fiction about the Scarlet Pimpernel display her detailed knowledge about Revolutionary France and capture the miserable atmosphere which prevailed in that era.

When writing about her novel The Laughing Cavalier, Percy’s ancestor, Orczy described Percival’s “sunny disposition, irresistible laughter, a careless insouciance and adventurous spirit”.

As I mentioned in my previous article in Baroness Orczy, in Vintage Script, Percy revealed himself to Orczy while she was waiting for a train at an underground station.  She saw him dressed in exquisite clothes that marked him as a late eighteenth century gentleman, noted the monocle he held up in his slender hand and heard both his lazy drawl and quaint laugh.  Inspired by their meeting she wrote The Scarlet Pimpernel in five weeks.

On the second of August 1792, Percy founded his gallant League of Gentlemen composed of nine members.  When ten more members enrolled in January 1793 there was “one to command and nineteen to obey.” Percy and his league saved innocents from the French Revolutionary Government’s tool, Madame Guillotine.

London society speculated about the identity of The Scarlet Pimpernel but, with the possible exception of the Prince Regent, only the members of Percy’s league knew his true identity.

     Percy, a man of wealth and influence well-acquainted with the Prince Regent, heir to the throne, married Marguerite St. Just, a French actress.  Until Percy discovered Marguerite was responsible for an aristocratic family’s death, he was an adoring husband.   Percy kept his alias, The Scarlet Pimpernel secret from Marguerite for fear she would betray him.  Still loving Marguerite despite her crime, he feigned indifference, treated her coldly, shunned her company and acted the part of a fool so successfully that he bored her.  However, Marguerite discovered the truth about Percy and saved his life.  After the romantic couple’s reconciliation, Marguerite is mentioned as a member of the league in Mam’zelle Guillotine.

At the beginning of each of Orczy’s novels about The Scarlet Pimpernel and his league, the current events of the French Revolution are summarised.  Thus, Orczy weaves fiction and face by not only featuring English and French historical figures such as Robespierre, d’Herbois, The Prince of Wales, and Sir William Pitt, the younger, but by making use of historical events.  For example, in Eldorado Orczy describes the Dauphin in the care of the brutal shoemaker, Simon, who teaches the prince to curse God and his parents. 

Amid horror, Orczy uses romance and heroism to defeat evil, as she did as a child when playing the part of a fearless prince while her sister acted the part of a damsel in distress.

Orczy spent 1900 in Paris that, in her ears, echoed with the horrors of the French Revolution.  Surely, she had found the setting for her magnificent hero The Scarlet Pimpernel, who would champion the victims of The Terror.   But why did she choose such an insignificant flower for Percy’s alias?   It is not unreasonable to suppose a Parisian royalist organisation’s triangular cards, which were hand painted with roses that resemble scarlet pimpernels, fuelled Orczy’s imagination. 

Further fuel might have been added by a man called Louis Bayard, a young man with similarities to the real life Scarlet Pimpernel, although he might not have been motivated by Percy’s idealism

William Wickham, the first British spymaster, engaged the nineteen-year old Louis Bayard.  In the following years, Louis proved himself to be as elusive as Percy. Like Percy, Louis had many aliases. Not only did Orczy’s fictional hero and Louis fall in love with actresses, but both also appeared and disappeared without causing comment.  Real life Louis’s and fictional Percy’s lives depended on being masters of disguise. 

In disguise, Percy fools his archenemy, Citizen Chauvelin, who Orczy gives the role of official French Ambassador to England.  It is an interesting example of her distortion of historical personalities and incidents for them to feature in her works of fiction.  In fact, it is doubtful that Bernard-Francois, marquis de Chauvelin ever assumed a false identity as he did in Orczy’s novel, The Scarlet Pimpernel, about Percy and his League of Gentlemen, among whom are such fictional but memorable characters such as Armand St Just, Marguerite’s brother, Sir Andrew Ffoulkes, Lord Hastings, and Lord Tony Dewhurst.

Another example of Orczy weaving fact and fiction is Louis-Antoine St Just, a revolutionary, who she describes as Marguerite’s cousin.  Louis-Antoine St Just, a young lawyer, was Maximillian Robespierre’s follower. He supported the punishment of traitors as well as that of anyone who was a ‘luke-warm’ revolutionary.  In The Triumph of the Scarlet Pimpernel Marguerite’s brother, the fictional, Armand St Just, meets with Robespierre and other Jacobins.  Orczy portrays him as young, fervent, and articulate as the real life Louis-Antoine St Just.

Throughout the history of publishing countless authors, who became famous and whose work is still enjoyed as books, films, plays and t.v. dramatizations, found it difficult to place their work.  Orczy’s most famous novel was no exception.  Percy took the leading role in her play called The Scarlet Pimpernel and captured the audience’s hearts. Subsequently the novel was published, and Percy became famous.  His fame increased with each sequel about his daring exploits.

 

http://bookswelove.net/authors/morris-rosemary

 

rosemarymorris.co.uk

 

The Necessity of New Year’s Writing Goals by S. L. Carlson

 

I am S. L. Carlson, a proud and grateful BWL Publishing Inc. author. My books can be viewed and purchased by visiting https://www.bookswelove.net/carlson-s-l

I’ve had the honor to have been in an on-line critique group since the early 2000’s. Every year we send each other our writing goals for the coming year. We started this annual tradition in order to keep ourselves on (writing) target, and also to be held accountable to fellow writers. Many Januarys, we end up laughing about our previous year’s impressive goals, unreached. Some Januarys, we give each other e-slaps-on-the-backs and e-hugs or e-high-fives for accomplishing a stated goal. Each new year is eye-opening to what we can and cannot, or do not, complete in a year. And each January, we refine our goals to become more realistic and attainable to our complicated lives.

I find this yearly habit encouraging and strengthening. More than that. As a writer, I find it vital in order to see and find my writing way.

Each year, I keep a file for the critique group. So this new month of the new year, I looked up the file of our 2021 writing goals. Couldn’t find it. I figured it was such a chaotic pandemic year (with me moving a little over a year ago to a new state), that I simply hadn’t pieced all our goals together like I’ve done the previous years. But when I searched my emails, lo and behold, not a single 2021 writing goal popped up.

I was stunned. I stared at my computer screen for the longest time because 1) I hadn’t sent out a request for goals (so unlike me); 2) no one else in the group made comments about it (so unlike them); and 3) I was struck with how much this pandemic and move has kicked my writing butt!

This new year, however, our house is finally in order, including furniture, and pictures on the walls. All our family have been vaccinated. It’s a new year. New beginnings. Time for new goals.

If you have not made writing goals for this new year, I admire your time, dedication, and tenacity to continue writing on your own. An author’s life can be very solitary. As for me, I need others. If I didn’t have a time-limit of when to have 3,000 new words written to sub to my critique group each month, I know I’d make excuses to fill my time with things other than writing, and there are always other things.

I’ve been in other on-line groups, like BIW (Book-in-a-Week), where you’d post on Sunday night however many pages you think you’d be able to write for the week, then report in on the following Sunday. I’ve also participated in NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) in November for ten years. THAT is a rush – writing 1,667 blabbering words each day!

If you don’t have (or even if you do have) a writing group to share you goals with, share them in the comments below. Let’s make 2022 a spectacular year for writing.

 

S. L. Carlson Blog & Website: https://authorslcarlson.wordpress.com

BWL Inc. Publisher Author Page: https://www.bookswelove.net/carlson-s-l