Get Outta My Head
May 1st, 2007
Our Identity Ignition Specialist, Amanda, sent me a disturbing article last week. It seems that advertisers – faced with the fact that the general public is ignoring their intrusive messages – are becoming even more intrusive.
“Marketers around the world are using innovative audio technology that sends sound in a narrow beam, just like light, making it possible to direct messages right into consumers’ ears while they shop or sit in waiting rooms.”
So you’re cruising down the cereal aisle and all of a sudden it seems like someone is right next to you, talking about the nutritional values of Fruity Pebbles. But, alas, there’s nobody there. It’s a freakin’ ad.
“Unlike traditional speakers, which broadcast sound in every direction, sound from an audio spotlight speaker can be focused directly at one spot, so no one else can hear it, or projected against a surface so that sound appears to come from the surface itself.”
Great. Is this the wave of the future? I hope not. I hope consumers will retaliate. I recall a story about images being projected on the sidewalk outside of shops in a certain city that had to be pulled because people complained. I can only hope for the same in this case. What do the stuffy-pants ad boys say?
“Baba Shetty, director of interactive media at Hill Holliday in Boston, said it is very easy for people to filter out visual messages and advertisements — you look away or don’t pay attention — but audio is less avoidable.”
Bonehead.
Other posts by Spike.
Mr. Steve says:
See….jedi mind tricks AREN’T all that impossible, now are they?
This is creepy. Truly very creepy.
May 1st, 2007 at 6:18 amJake McKee says:
It’s like on-demand schizophrenia. Yay. Just what I always wanted.
As someone who only hears out of one ear and has significant problems with sound location because of it, this would be seriously troubling to me. I don’t often draw “if they do this, then they lose my biz forever” lines, but this would be one place where I absolutely would.
May 4th, 2007 at 10:23 amSpike says:
Well said, Jake. I don’t think that they are taking any number of things into consideration - especially people who have hearing issues as it is.
May 7th, 2007 at 6:36 amClint Welsh says:
It reminds me of the old comic book ads, this one in particular. “The Ventrilo – Throw your voice into a trunk, under the bed or anywhere.”
I can’t imagine this doing anything more than driving someone away in frustration. It never ceases to amaze me that for a handful of successful marketers that embrace a relationship there seems a hundred fold that embrace attack. As a designer, I feel I’m a bit more perceptive to most marketing attempts than most, and in turn, more cautious. However, growing up exposed to so many attempts to “convert” people into “generated returns” has only created a larger population of cautious consumers. This can only build more of a barrier in my oppinion.
May 8th, 2007 at 8:46 am