Ten Things Your Supermarket Won't Tell You: "How do supermarkets capitalize on your tendency to stray? They play soft music in the aisles, inducing you to relax and spend, says Richard Rauch, a professor of marketing at Long Island University who consults for supermarket chains. Some stores, he adds, even use special mood-enhancing lighting that filters out higher frequencies in the visible light spectrum. It produces only relaxing colors such as blues and purples, which reduce the rate at which your eyes blink. 'It slows your pace and gets your mind to slow down,' says Rauch. 'Using lighting to create an atmosphere is not an unusual tactic. Most of the larger, more sophisticated stores use it.'"
Tuesday
Sleeping Poll News concocted to Promote Sleeping Pills
Sleeping Poll News concocted to Promote Sleeping Pills
This spring, a poll that found half of adult Americans have frequent sleeping problems was reported on 'by virtually all of the country's major newspapers and television networks,' as well as international media. 'Lost in the somber warnings and survey results, however, was that the poll, the proclamations and the press kits that spread the information were paid for by sleeping pill manufacturers,' reports the Sacramento Bee. Although the group that released the poll, the National Sleep Foundation (NSF), receives more than half of its income from drug companies, only 17 of 84 newspaper stories 'mentioned the foundation's pharmaceutical sponsors.'"
Saturday
Below The Line Marketing. Way, Way, Below The Line.
Review by AdPulp: Below The Line Marketing. Way, Way, Below The Line. "Every so often, a marketing book comes along that captures precisely what's going on at the moment--the 'zeitgeist,' if you will....We Know What You Want: How They Change Your Mind by Martin Howard is a fascinating overview of all the marketing tactics that are working to influence consumers on a much subtler level than traditional advertising....covering such tactics as event marketing, in-store marketing, targeted CRM, advergaming, word-of-mouth, PR, buzz marketing, etc., Howard lays it all out in a kitschy, well-designed book full of little graphics to keep you enthralled... I read a lot of marketing stuff, but this book has quite a few 'I can't believe someone's doing THAT' marketing ideas in here. It's well-done."
More about Subliminal PersuasionFriday
Pentagon recruiting kids with mass data mining
Pentagon recruiting kids with mass data mining scheme:
The US military has retained the services of a commercial privacy invasion outfit to assemble detailed dossiers on all American high school children and college students, according to a report in the Washington Post"
Saturday
An onslaught of hidden ads
An onslaught of hidden ads: "
Toyota Motor Corp. has asked at least three major magazine companies to explore product integration - that's product placement to you and me - of its cars into magazine editorial pages. Say hello to another indicator of changing media mores.
There's no sign that Hearst Magazines, Meredith, and Advance Publications, the parent of Condé Nast Publications, are going along with what would be a major breach of the traditional wall between magazine editorial and advertising units.
Still, it's a time, says Deborah Wahl Meyer, vice-president for marketing at Lexus, in which 'ideas can cross between advertising and editorial. It doesn't always need to have the 'advertorial' note on top.' Indeed, when Toyota came calling at each publisher, its execs talked up a favorite marketing coup: this year's multimillion-dollar deal that put its vehicles on reality-TV show The Contender.
Toyota's notions aren't universally welcomed. 'We'll sell our mothers, but this doesn't work,' says a mystified magazine executive who attended one presentation and, fearing a major advertiser's wrath, insisted on anonymity. 'I can't sell you an article. I don't even know how to price it.'
Elsewhere, such concerns faded long ago. For a fee, companies can place brands in songs, plays, movies, books (remember Fay Weldon's The Bulgari Connection?) -- and, of course, television. (BUSINESSWEEK)"
Agenda Inc. Live Feed
More about Subliminal PersuasionFriday
Expose of Kabbalah Centre
Expose of Kabbalah Centre: "Mark Frauenfelder:
The SPY-like Radar magazine has a great article about 'Hollywood's Hottest Cult' -- Kabbalah Centre, the Los Angeles institution that Madonna has donated $18 million to.
The Bergs have come a long way since 1971, when Philip, then known as Shraga Feivel Gruberger, began preaching his version of Jewish mystical enlightenment to a small group of students in Israel. A onetime insurance salesman who left his wife and seven kids to marry Karen, his former secretary, Berg has become a man so revered that some of his followers believe he has the power to resurrect the dead...
Link (Thanks, Nathan!)"
(Via Boing Boing.)
Thursday
US pays for good press
My Country Was Invaded and All I Got Was This Lousy T-Shirt
'The U.S. Special Operations Command has hired three firms to produce newspaper stories, television broadcasts and Web sites to spread American propaganda overseas.' The contract may run $100 million over the next five years. The work was likely outsourced because there are 'only one active-duty and two reserve psyops units remaining' in the U.S.
More about Subliminal Persuasion
Wednesday
Hustling Estrogen With Fake News
Hustling Estrogen With Fake News: "The Australian Broadcasting Corporation's MediaWatch program has revealed that Estradot, an estrogen patch for women made by drug industry giant Novartis, has been promoted in Australia by a fake news package including a press release, a video news release (VNR) and an audio news release (ANR)." (Via PR Watch's Spin of the Day.)
Saturday
Psychological Warfare Effort to be Outsourced
Psychological Warfare Effort to be Outsourced - Independent Media TV
The U.S. Special Operations Command has hired three firms to produce newspaper stories, television broadcasts and Web sites to spread American propaganda overseas... The Tampa-based military headquarters, which oversees commandos and psychological warfare, may spend up to $100 million for the media campaign in the next five years. The Pentagon backed away from a similar campaign in 2002."
Friday
More Fake News from Big Pharma
More Fake News from Big Pharma: "Pharmaceutical makers have created fake news segments and given them to local TV stations to air as news programming. Such fake stories under their deceptive news-like camouflage are part of a marketing strategy aimed an unsuspecting consumers. The segments could begin airing in major markets this summer but are drawing intense criticism from journalists and Dr. Sidney Wolfe, the director of Public Citizen’s Health Research groups. As he puts it, ‘Viewers will undoubtedly be deceived into believing this content is a product of the normal news process, which is supposed to be objective and non-biased- not driven by an economic agenda or marketing considerations.’ From 1998 to 2003 there has been an 85 percent decrease in the FDA enforcement actions against prescription drug advertising. Therefore, since the FDA is no longer regulating closely to see whether drug companies are violating advertising restrictions for medicines, the question is whether or not they will monitor such pseudo news stories in MediZine’s and on television. For more info, visit www.projectcensored.org"
Monday
Manipulating Google
Manipulating Google: "Companies are using blogs, link farms and spam to subvert search engine results, writes Mark Glaser. A case in point: Quixtar, a revamped version of Amway.To put it simply, Quixtar enlisted various people to help create dozens of Weblogs that linked to each other and were filled with positive stories and key words. The idea is to help put these newer blogs at the top of search results for phrases such as 'Quixtar success' and 'Quixtar opportunity,' while more critical sites such as Quixtar Blog and Amquix.info would drop down.
More about Subliminal Persuasion
Sunday
NeuroSky hacks brainwaves
NeuroSky: "... has developed a non-invasive neural sensor and signal processing technology that converts brainwaves and eye movements into useful electronic signals to communicate with a wide range of electronic devices, consoles, and computers.
"
NeuroSky to offer thought control
NeuroSky to offer thought control without those pesky brain implants: "Intellectual children (dweebs) have long suffered the humiliation of being chosen last for such illustrious sports as Dodgeball and Piggy Move Up. Up to now, parents could only implant a BrainGate in hopes of supplanting hand-eye coordination with thought-control (be the ball Danny, be the ball). But now, NeuroSky (a fab(u)less startup of US chip designers and Russian neuroscientists chillin’ in NorCal) claims a ‘breakthrough’ in non-invasive neural sensors allowing low-cost, dry (no contact gels) neural mapping solutions to be applied to those things you’d most like to mind control ( spouse , voters , TV, game console, cellphone). Initially, they will focus on three applications: sleep/drowsiness detectors for the automotive and industrial markets; therapeutic solutions for attention deficit disorder (ADD) problems; and gaming consoles. They’ve already inked a deal with China Mobile and their 100 million cellphone subscribers. Hmm, China embracing thought-control technology - who woulda guessed it? [Via textually.org ] Ads by Google"
Blogdigger search for "mind control"
More about Subliminal PersuasionGadget Promos Creep Into TV Shows
Gadget Promos Creep Into TV Shows: "'Tech product placement is going into overdrive, with several prime-time shows basing plot lines around hip gadgets and gizmos. And soon, thanks to interactive 'object-tracking' technology, consumers may be able to buy featured products with a click of the remote.
'As consumers turn away from traditional advertising, tech marketers are picking up the slack by weaving lots of gadgets into the fabric of TV shows and movies. The net, video games and ad-skipping DVRs are forcing marketers to focus more attention on 'branded entertainment.'' (Wired News article)."
Disinformation
More about Subliminal PersuasionFriday
Customised RFID tags embedded in products
Customised RFID tags embedded in products: "Radio frequency identification system read/write tags that can be embedded into products at their point of manufacture provide full product tracking and traceability."
(Via Blogdigger search for rfid.)
Subscribe to:
Posts
(
Atom
)