New audio technology brings internet pop-ups to the real world

Just when you thought advertising couldn’t get any more intrusive:

New Yorker Alison Wilson was walking down Prince Street in SoHo last week when she heard a woman’s voice right in her ear asking, “Who’s there? Who’s there?” She looked around to find no one in her immediate surroundings. Then the voice said, “It’s not your imagination.”

Indeed it isn’t. It’s an ad for “Paranormal State,” a ghost-themed series premiering on A&E this week. The billboard uses technology manufactured by Holosonic that transmits an “audio spotlight” from a rooftop speaker so that the sound is contained within your cranium.

Holosonic boss Joe Pompei doesn’t see any problem with the idea.

“There’s going to be a certain population sensitive to it. But once people see what it does and hear for themselves, they’ll see it’s effective for getting attention,” Mr. Pompei said.

The assumption, of course, is that letting advertisers GET INSIDE OUR BLOODY HEADS WHENEVER THEY BLOODY WELL FEEL LIKE IT BECAUSE THEIR STUPID BLOODY CAMPAIGN IS MORE IMPORTANT THAN OUR THOUGHTS is something we should embrace.

It’s mental mugging – and it’s not going to be great for people with genuine mental problems either, is it?

[AdAge, via MetaFilter]

[Have I blogged about this before, or are the voices telling me that I have?]


Posted

in

,

by