When it comes to our personal sovereignty, Americans are mostly lucky. We live in a nation whose idea of freedom includes autonomy over our physical bodies. While this may seem like something ordinary and commonplace, that is just the environment of your upbringing her dulling you to the glory of the situation.
And so, we cannot be compelled to take any substance into our bodies that we do not wish to. This has gotten tricky, at times, with vaccines and other medical situations sometimes acting as a fulcrum of the argument, but Americans can pretty much say “no” at any time.
But when it comes to the mind, there are advertisers and entertainers out there who have turned their craft into a weapon, and they are injecting ideas and subliminal messages into our minds at all times.
This isn’t terribly different from any other substance, and may very well be far worse for us than some of the medicines that some of us object to.
That’s why the latest news from the marketing world is so terrifying.
When brewing giant Coors launched a new advertising campaign earlier this year, the format came as a surprise to many. The company was planning to infiltrate people’s dreams to get them to buy, and presumably drink, Coors beer.
Coors encouraged people to watch a short online video before bed, then play an eight-hour “soundscape” through the night. If successful, this “targeted dream incubation” would trigger “refreshing dreams” of Coors, according to the company.
It’s unclear how many people took part in the dream manipulation – the top Google search result for “Coors dreams” is currently the song Dreams, performed by the Irish pop-rock band the Corrs – but experts warn that the Coors campaign is not just a gimmick, and may have opened a door to a troubling future.
This bizarre and invasive concept will surely give a few of us the heebie-jeebies, but it might make even more of them thirsty.
