ABC’s Media Watch has picked up complaints that the recent Aria Awards contained ’subliminal advertising’.

The Aria Awards are a big event - and not only for the Australian music industry.

…proudly sponsored by Bigpond. Olay Total Effects…KFC Hot Rods…and Chupa Chups.

— Channel 10, ARIA Awards, 28th October, 2007

Those were the ads seen by more than a million viewers of Channel Ten’s Aria coverage. But what about the ads that many viewers didn’t see. Did you notice anything unusual there? At first, we didn’t.

But take a look at it again in slow motion - there’s a single frame lasting just one twenty fifth of a second, edited into the nominations clip. This one - advertising the Toyota Yaris. The practice was used throughout the awards, and some sharp-eyed viewers actually spotted it.