Finding the message...

In most cases, it is easy to recognize that there is something more going on. The GE and Sony commercials make the hidden content just visible enough you that you can recognize that something is there, but you can't actually see what it is, forcing you to back up and watch again frame-by-frame.

The Sprite commercials used several different ways of drawing attention to their hidden content. They also made sure that their content was visible just long enough to recognize something was there. The beginning of their commercials also contained the tagline "DVR Ready" at the bottom of the screen for the first few second of the commercial. The voice over also says "Welcome to sublymonal advertising. For best results, do not blink."

The KFC commercial was unique in that their content was so subliminal, it could not be seen by just watching the commercial normally. The KFC corporation actually leaked the information about the hidden content to the media itself to get people talking about it.