Sonic advertising privacy invasion
p2pnet news | Advertising:- They’re determined to get into your head by one means or another, and a US company has found yet another way of invading your privacy in the name of forcing you to pay attention to advertisements.
You’re walking down a street in New York when all of a sudden, “Who’s that?” - whispers a woman’s voice. “Who’s There?”
No. You weren’t having a schizoid episode.
And, “There’s more going on here,” says a spooky voice with heart-beats in the background.
This time, it’s an online ad for Paranormal State, “a ghost-themed series premiering on A&E this week”.
The voice you heard in New York meant you were being subjected, without your permission, to an “audio spotlight” from a rooftop speaker.
It, “creates sound in a narrow beam, just like light,” says Holosonic Research Labs.
“Aim the flat, thin speaker disc to your desired listening area” and ……..
Is this a new form of not-so-subliminal advertising?
An ‘animated .gif in a spam campaign’
Last March p2pnet reported UK security firm Sophos said it had identified an animated .gif in a spam campaign designed to artificially inflate the price of shares in a company called Trimax.
“The graphic briefly flashed a message saying ‘BUY!!!’ approximately every fifteen seconds, the message being, ‘comparable to the subliminal messages that have occasionally been used in advertising and political broadcasts to try and subconciously influence people’,” we went on, adding:
“Now a British study shows how subliminal advertising, banned in the UK but still legal in the US, might work.”
And this Thursday, “As a matter of fact, Dr Bahador Bahrami’s research is not a case of ‘Subliminal Advertising’,” Patrik Nilsson from the Stockholm Institute of Communication Science posted in a p2pnet Reader’s Write to the story.
He went on that Bahrami’s work is centered around specific cognitive processes connected with attention and consciousness.
“Furthermore, the ‘Subliminal way’ is but an illusion and is not supported in neither advertising research nor consumer decision making research,” states Patrik, suggesting anyone who is interested might want to see his The Hoax - 50 Years of Subliminal Advertising.
The pic on the left is borrowed from Nilsson’s article
In a second comment post, “The perhaps closest effect with any similarity with ‘Subliminal advertising’ is ‘mere exposures’ discussed by for instance Mandler, Nakamura and van Zandt (1987) and also by Monahan, Murphy and Zajonc (2000),” he says, adding:
“In their studies, repetition of ‘mere exposures’ may have the potential to produce a kind of vague feeling of familiarity that later could be interpreted as liking. Their studies are though, not studies of ‘Subliminal advertising’.”
And in a PS, “The example you are referring to with the ‘BUY’-text that is flashing every 15 seconds is not sublimnal at all,” he points out. “It is very visible, i.e. liminal.”
Making you watch and listen
Back to the Voice in the Sky, in much the same way the likes of Google, Microsoft, Yahoo! and all the rest of them are spending millions of dollars trying to find ways to weasel advertising at you in a manner you can’t ignore, offline advertisers are also increasingly having to find ways to make you pay attention.
Are you annoyed at all the garbage being dumped on you? Believe it or not, there’s even an element of advertising which acknowledges the ‘annoyance factor” as a tool.
In other words, in an active demonstration of the maxim There’s no such thing as bad publicity, they deliberately piss you off so you won’t forget whatever it is they’re shoving in your face.
Meanwhile, the marks —- that’s you and me —- are now so saturated with ‘BUY BUY’ that we automatically tune it out.
What to do, what to DO? - plaintively ask the people tasked with developing methods and techniques designed to forcibly make you watch and listen.
“Businesses seeking to cut through the confusion and reach their customers need to stimulate more than just the eye to be effective,” says Holosonic.
And the ad which freaked you out in New York came from isolated beam of sound emitted from a speaker mounted above a billboard seven stories up.
“People who pass by the billboard are startled and entertained by the sudden message, and their attention is drawn directly to the billboard itself,” says the company.
It’s even found a way to justify this horrifying unsolicited privacy invasion.
Quiet, “is preserved for all of the neighbors,” it says.
But as the target, you don’t merit this kind of consideration. You’ll listen, like it or not.
“With the Audio Spotlight technology, sound can be targeted to only a specific area, and provide audio just to this small region - all the way from a rooftop,” says Holosonic.
“Passerby entering the beam hear the sound immediately, and very clearly, which captures their attention. This is an extremely effective method of making your message stand out in a sea of advertising.”
Don’t want to be bombarded by audio advertising?
Tough. You’ll just have to walk around with wax plugs stuck in your ears to block out unwanted ads beamed at you by people trying to sell you stuff you don’t want.
It’ll be interesting to see how long it take privacy advocates to zero in on this.
Stay tuned.
Jon Newton - p2pnet
Want to help p2pnet stay online? Please click here.
Use free p2pnet newsfeeds for your site. It’s really easy!
Subscribe to p2pnet.net | | rss feed: http://p2pnet.net/p2p.rss | | Mobile - http://p2pnet.net/index-wml.php
December 15th, 2007 at 10:13 am
Hi Jon:
As a long-time reader, I have often thought you would do better to concentrate more on producing the kind of original article like the one above than a lot of smaller stories amalgamated from mainstream media and other sources.
I say this in the spirit of friendly criticism
Morg
December 15th, 2007 at 11:30 am
Actually, I quite like doing the posts. I’d probably be surfing around anyway, checking out what’s happening
Otherwise - http://www.p2pnet.net/story/13456
Cheers! And have a good Christmas, Morg
December 15th, 2007 at 11:51 am
that’s fucked up, jon.
this technology was probably developed by and for the military. sonic waves (as well as microwaves) have been used as weapons by US police and military - even on people taking part in peaceful demonstrations - for years.
many technological “advances” which were originally developed for military use (video games, joy sticks, etc.) are now a part of everyday life.
so one can imagine that this “audio beaming” has also been used as a weapon by armed forces, and indeed has now been hijacked by madison avenue to attack unsuspecting, innocent bystanders and passersby.
this type of unwanted advertising can cause death.
what if the disc becomes defective or is pointed at someone at the wrong place or time? imagine a person crossing a busy midtown street and suddenly without warning hears “Stop! Look! Up in the sky! It’s Superman!” The person does just that and is then hit by a bus because the light has turned red.
people on their lunch breaks often like to sit and read a newspaper or book to relax and quietly pass the time without interference - something they look forward to all day. but as they sit with their sandwich and paperback, they now have to be bombarded with annoying audio ads. that’s enough to ruin anyone’s quiet time.
many people in big cities wear their walkman headphones to drown out the hustle and bustle of city life distractions and enjoy a bit of non-intrusive, private entertainment.
as a native new yorker i know this as a fact.
cinemas use technology to send unwanted ads to unsuspecting movie-goers’ cell phones as they walk in the door.
now i can imagine the madison avenue suits thinking of ways to get inside your ipod or walkman or mobile phone without your permission in order to try and sell something or distract you in some way. perhaps this would be the ultimate use for GPS and bluetooth.
suppose a weapon like this got into the wrong hands and could be used to attack people with subliminal messages? instead of “Buy” it could be “Steal”, or “Kill”. perhaps it already has been used this way?
this is another example of unwanted, annoying in-your-face advertising that to the uninformed unwashed masses seems like a bit of harmless fun. one might think it’s just a fad, but with sky-high billboards, cctv, and now audio beaming, there doesn’t seem to be any possibility of escaping the eyes and ears of big brother.
December 15th, 2007 at 12:48 pm
…this is the worst thing I’ve seen from advertising ever! You can’t block it making it forced upon people. I believe you could sue them over forcing you to listen to an advertisement you don’t want to. People watch advertisements the first second, if they like it, they continue, if not, they ignore it. You can’t do that with this type of advertising.
December 15th, 2007 at 5:28 pm
When i’m walking around i’m usually listening to my ipod anyway. I wouldn’t hear it
December 15th, 2007 at 7:01 pm
Another thought: I was talking to a blind friend today. Obviously, he uses his ears to get around. One of the things he does is occasionally ‘click’ with his tongue. He calls it his dolphin echo location. He says he’d definitely find it a pain to have ads beamed at him.
Cheers!
Jon
December 15th, 2007 at 9:29 pm
More miaudlin blathering with no substance whatsoever.
As far as I can tell from this website, your two basic principles are:
1. Anything and everything you want — no matter what it is — should be available at no cost to you, whatsoever. Additionally, the fact that somebody complains about this is enough to get them branded as “an RIAA troll”. (Keeping in mind, of course, that the p2p networks are fucking the artists over WORSE than the “music cartels” — who at least DO occasionally do a half-assed job of paying out royalties etc.)
2. Advertising — of any kind, for any purpose — is evil. You should not be “forced” to (for example) overhear commercial sound. So, when they invent a technology where the audio is completely silent EXCEPT for when you’re standing right in it’s field, this is also evil. So you hate commercialization of any kind, and want everything for “free” no matter what anybody else — especially the creators or distributors of the content — say about it. This is fascinating. to observe how godawfully dishonest the entire thing is.
You obviously don’t want to “pay for” anything — you just want it — whatever it is — for “free”, no matter how it’s acquired, so it stands to reason that anybody advocating that you “buy” something would be seen as “the enemy”.
Makes perfect sense to me.
December 15th, 2007 at 10:37 pm
Hi Henry.
Long time. How goes it?
Anyhow, enjoy your Christmas shopping. There’ll be plenty of people who’ll tell you what to buy
Cheers!
December 16th, 2007 at 12:29 am
i can’t find the word “miaudlin” in any dictionary, in any language, online or offline.
hello troll.
pwned.
December 16th, 2007 at 1:53 pm
Quote “So, when they invent a technology where the audio is completely silent EXCEPT for when you’re standing right in it’s field, this is also evil.”
Here’s the problem - it is being beamed into our field. It is not their field. If I owned the sidewalk where the ad is being beamed into, I would expect to be compensated for my trouble.
Oh, and where are your stats to back up that P2P hurts the artists more than the music mafia? Every study I have seen has the P2P actually giving more exposure to artists and are promoting them better (and free of charge) than the record industry that forces the artists themselves to pay them back for promotion.
December 17th, 2007 at 2:50 pm
Music should be free to listen to…
Watching somebody sing it is different though…
December 18th, 2007 at 6:27 pm
my head asplode
November 16th, 2008 at 5:51 am
Um, I have been searching for a few minutes for some way to block this type of advertising, i never considered myself the “tin foil hat” type but if that would give me PEACE OF MIND ill have one in size medium. Do any of you here have any suggestion for some way to block this? If not I, since im a chick might start wearing an insulated hijab. This type of ad is INSIDE your cranium so your ipod listening isnt going to stop it, its in your head,
Fourth Ammendment
The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.
This type of advertising violates my right of security or privacy “IN their persons” this advertising is placed INSIDE the person, thus violating the 4th ammendment, it is seeking to seize you without your consent. Im not a lawyer but i think we as humans should never be subjected to solicitation against our will. Imagine if the homeless guy had one of these and could just beam “are you gonna finish that slice of pizza” in your head, so as not to disturb the other customers on the sidewalk cafe?