I remember in Marketing class they taught us about "Herb the Nerd".

In the 1980's Burger King was expanding and as part of this came a big advertising campaign centered around a nerdy-looking guy called Herb, who was the only person who hadn't been to a Burger King. If you could spot him in a Burger King restaurant, you could win money. It was a colossal failure, and instead of increasing customer volume, ended up having the opposite effect and decreasing it.

Why? Because the overt message of

"Herb the Nerd" <-> "The only person who hasn't gone to Burger King"

was shortened in people's minds to

"... Nerd" <-> "... Burger King".

It's fascinating: indirect/subtext messaging will beat direct messaging every time.