📺 Now Stream Ads in Dreams!
If you suddenly begin dreaming about beer or videogames, here's who is to blame.
There are two things that you absolutely cannot avoid in today's world: Covid and advertisements.
Yeah, you may buy subscriptions, install ad blockers, or take any other measures possible, still, ads will find you.
And not just that, somehow these ads know our exact thoughts and conversations. Sometimes it feels that these advertisers are in our brains, reading our most intimate thoughts and showing us ads based on them.
Super creepy, right?
But it is going to get creepier.
What's the one time of the day when you're no longer a consumer? When you're free from ads?Â
When we're sleeping.Â
But brands don't want to let us escape even for these 6-8 hours. Wondering how they'll target us while we sleep? ReadOn!
Advertising: The Thing That Can Make or Break Your Business
The reason ads are everywhere is because they are the most effective way to market your business.
If you don't advertise, your business will never be able to reach a wider audience and grow. So, love them or hate them, you need ads to grow your business.
In fact, major companies like Google, Amazon and Facebook earn billions just by showing you ads. 80% of Google's revenue, or around $147 billion, came from ads. That's how important they are.
But some companies are taking this a little too far now. For instance, Coors Light, Xbox, and Burger King now want to show you ads in your dreams!
Yes, you read that right. These companies are researching a technique called Targeted Dream Incubation. It involves a wearable device that understands when you're in deep sleep and plays messages that are subconsciously recorded in your brain. These messages guide your dreams to make sure you dream of the desired products.
Sounds like some Inception-level science, right?
But surely ReadOn, we're ages away from such advertising becoming a reality, no? So, why worry now?
That's where you're wrong. An American beer company called Coors Light has already successfully managed to implant ads in your dreams.
Early last year, the company conducted a sleep experiment with none other than Zayn Malik and was successful in implanting a robot made of Coors cans in his dreams. You can check out the result here.Â
Xbox also conducted a similar experiment in 2020. It used a wearable device to incite lucid dreams (dreams where you are aware that you are dreaming) which they would track to see what gamers were dreaming about after playing their favourite games.
Okay. We see a pattern here, you need to have a wearable device or something similar to induce ad-filled dreams. So, we're safe, right?
Well, are you? A lot of us use FitBits or other similar wearable devices that track our sleeping now. Plus, we have Alexas or Google Homes in our homes. So, it is very plausible that these devices could play subliminal messages to us while we're sleeping. And bam, you suddenly wake up craving Domino's Pizza or a Coke. These ads could also plant triggers in your head that make you crave, say Pepsi, anytime you see blue.
The scariest part is that these experiments have shown that you won't even remember that you heard any subliminal messages. You'll just be inexplicably craving things without knowing why.
And this could be very dangerous. What if an alcoholic starts getting dreams about beer? Or if a diabetic starts craving doughnuts thanks to these dreams? Who will be responsible?
This is exactly the concern that a group of scientists put forth in front of the US Congress last year after Coors campaign was launched. They also added that these ads could seriously mess up our sleep rhythms.
Imagine working a 16-hour long day and you don't even get any rest in your sleep because these money-hungry corporations want to show you ads there as well. Annoying, right?
So, shouldn't governments across the world be regulating these companies and their advertising techniques?Â
Right now, just a few companies are researching this technology. So, it may be too soon for government intervention.Â
And this is not the only invasive advertising technique that is being developed. A startup called Mirriad has created new technology that allows it to introduce product placement in old movies and shows.
Confused? Okay, let us show you two pictures.
The first picture is an original still from a Chinese TV show. The second one has been digitally manipulated to add a Coca-Cola ad in Chinese.
So, this tech can basically manipulate scenes from old movies and shows to add advertisements.
Imagine watching Kabhi Khushi Kabhi Gham and suddenly spotting a Nykaa banner. Mirriad can do that.
Basically, nothing is safe from advertisements anymore.
Like Trevor Noah once tweeted, we'll probably soon have to watch an ad to even accept a phone call.
Let us know your thoughts about these new developments in ad tech and whether or not they should be stopped or regulated.
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What is burger king doing in this context?? Can you please throw light on that too??