A lot's been made about the new billboard for the show "Paranormal State" on A&E Network that uses "targeted audio" to transmit the commercial in a way that sounds as if it's coming from inside your head.
As Gawker writes:
The billboard says 73% of Americans believe and I'm assuming that that means 73% of Americans believe in ghosts. So if that's true, why try to convert the skeptical/not crazy 27% by beaming voices into their heads? That's just greedy. Also it leads to a lingering sense of serious mental violation. How soon will it be until in addition to the Do Not Call list, we'll have a Do Not Beam Commercial Messages Into My Head list?
Trouble is, Gawker and others make it sound as if this is all very new. In fact, it's anything but.
Below, you'll find what I wrote about a similar technology in ADWEEK a few years ago (some people wrote in that my recent link to the story was hard to read).
You can hear some commentary I did on NPR about the issue, here.
And you can read all about this and the exact technology used in the A&A ad in my book, BRANDING UNBOUND.
GETTING AN EARFUL
Targeted Audio Is Here. And That's A Good Thing?
By Rick Mathieson
It sounds too good to be true: After spending most of my adult life trying
to get inside consumers' heads, I now find out that next-generation audio
technology can do it for me.
I recently chanced upon a New York Times story about Elwood G. Norris, a
prolific San Diego inventor who has created a device that can deliver audio
to specific individuals in a crowd. Not in their ears, mind you. In their
brains.
According to the article, HyperSonic Sound (HSS) technology
directs sound much as a laser beam directs light. Sound waves are converted
to a beam of ultrasound, or even a spherical sound "bubble" that can be
directed to specific listeners in its path, where it is converted back into
audible frequencies. A slight alteration in the direction of the beam can
cause the audio to rove around from ear to ear, in what can only be
described as the ultimate in surround sound. You hear a sonata, a news
flash, a product pitch that feels like it's coming from inside your skull.
The person standing next to you doesn't hear a thing.
This technology promises to transform the way we interact with audio.
Imagine a family room in which little Joey sits on the sofa playing a
Matrix DVD at full blast while Mom listens to the soothing sounds of James
Taylor from her easy chair just two feet away. Or imagine message bubbles
in every aisle of a grocery store, each containing an audio message
pitching everything from ginkgo biloba dietary supplements to Depends
undergarments.
And just think of the things HSS could do in the hands of the perfidious
pranksters at The Jamie Kennedy Experiment, America's Funniest Home Videos
or Jackass. ("Did you hear that voice?" "Um, no.")
HSS is for real. It was recently awarded the grand prize for new inventions
of 2002 by Popular Science magazine, beating out the egregiously hyped
Segway scooter. Meanwhile, the Times reports that marketers including
Wal-Mart, McDonald's, Pepsi, Coke and a host of international museums
have lined up to talk with Norris about his technology. And by sometime
next year, more than five million soda machines in Japan will be outfitted
with HSS.
Which all sounds like a marketer's dream come true. But as it turns out,
HSS also has other, less benign applications.
The U.S. military has already conducted experiments with HSS to create
something called High Intensity Directed Acoustics (HIDA). HIDA can be used
to give verbal warnings to intruders - or it can be used as a weapon,
delivering 120-decibel sounds that are, as the Times article points out,
"as physically disabling as shrapnel."
And that's not all. Apparently, the sound of a crying baby, played backward
at high decibels and mixed with other tones, can elicit instant vertigo and
violent nausea. If that isn't scary enough, what happens when they start
experimenting with sound bites from Dr. Phil?
And while Mary Hart can breathe a sigh of relief knowing her voice isn't
the only one that can cause seizures, this whole matter had me hearing a
little voice (hopefully my own) asking some pesky questions:
In a world where we're already bombarded by mass-mediated messages
splattered across everything from subway terminals to bathroom stalls,
should the human brain be declared off-limits?
At what point does audio promotion end and breaking-and-entering begin?
And when, exactly, is a technology that can debilitate terrorists and enemy
soldiers safe to use in the frozen-food aisle?
New technologies like HSS present some vexing dilemmas. On the one hand,
the promise of speaking directly to consumers at the point of purchase is
tempting, perhaps all-trumping. On the other hand, the prospect of invading
minds to sell Hamburger Helper is enough to make anyone want to hurl.
Quick links:
BRANDING UNBOUND The Blog
BRANDING UNBOUND The Book
ADWEEK Magazines Excerpt
Rick Mathieson.com
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