BoingBoing links to an interesting bit of art: a chair that shoves big spikes up your arse if you don’t have a Licence to Sit.
As Cory Doctorow explains, “The piece makes a point about the rentware world we’re fast approaching, where individuals are stuck in a kind of feudal relationship with commercial entities.”
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0 responses to “Your arse belongs to us”
Years ago I worked in a shop, and my employer told me that it was possible to buy shop chairs that were deliberately uncomfortable so you wouldn’t have customers sitting around for ages when you really wanted them browsing the shelves. He said you could buy “five-minute chairs”, for example. I’ve tried to Google for the information but I can’t find it, so he was either winding me up or I’ve just broken the RETAIL SECRET OF THE CENTURY!
It’s also been written that fast food restaurants design their interiors to keep you in a state of anxiety so that you don’t feel like hanging around once you’ve finished eating. Again, I don’t have a link.
Both sound perfectly plausible to me. The science of retail is fascinating – I’ll have to go and find some books on it so at least I know *how* I’m being manipulated when I’m buying toilet roll…
I’ll send you my copy of The Hidden Persuaders by Vance Packard tomorrow – it was first published in 1957, so much of it is out of date or has since been discredited but it’s a fascinating read. One chapter talks about how supermarket layouts and package design cause shoppers to go into a light trance when they’re wandering around the store – which could explain why you go in to buy toilet roll and come out with a trolley-full of Stella instead ;)
That would be cool, thanks :-)