DVRs--not just for skipping commercials anymore

We've been using DVRs (Digital Video Recorders) in my family for over five years now. I started out with a ReplayTV 5000 series unit that essentially deleted commercials for you. Currently, we use the DirecTV HR20 HD DVR (which despite a few stability issues, I really like). Through using both of these units, we've regained control of our TV lives. Despite busy schedules and a child, we see all the shows we want to, when we want to and never watch a commercial.

However, today, I was watching live TV (something I do rarely unless it is a sporting event) and happened to catch something strange during a GE commercial. I noticed a number of frames flash by with what appeared to be subliminal messages. Immediately, I was reminded of something I had read a while back talking about some innovative advertisers putting things into their commercials for DVR owners. What I saw was one example--GE's One Second Theater.

Putting an entire sub-commercial into one second of video that can only be watched by pausing your DVR and going frame by frame is brilliant. It makes me feel like I am part of some really clever club that gets some inside information the masses miss. I've always been very in tune with advertising and branding (my friends call me the "ultimate consumer"). However, over the last few years I've wondered how traditional ads could evolve to fit into the new world of television controlled by the viewers instead of the networks. This is definitely a step in the right direction.