Healthy Influence Blog

If you’ve read the Primer chapter on subliminal persuasion you’ll recall the main point: It exists, but produces a weak effect under the best lab conditions so it’s no big deal for the real world. I did, however, close with a caveat about new technology. If you can deliver lab-like control (i.e. dominate the visual field) in the real world, then we might have the Queen of Tomorrow scenario where some smart kids from MIT create both the hardware and the software needed to Rule The World.

Well, kids, here’s the hardware.

myvu presents video glasses compatible with iPod video. It looks exactly right for the job. I have no personal experience with the glasses, so I don’t know how much visual attention they require, but it should be in the ballpark. And, if they are sufficient today, there’s always tomorrow and version 2.0.

Now, we need some smart retailers working with those MIT crazies to create a sensor that identifies a person wearing these glasses, then transmits a subliminal ad as the wearer walks by some kind of product and you’ve got the Queen of Tomorrow.

Really.

It will be interesting to see how this plays out. You can bet your bottom dollar, your good right hand, and Aunt Tillie’s best pair of underwear that somebody will try this (if they haven’t already). It’s just a technology problem . . . and a bit of an ethical problem, but if you’ve read the news today we learn that those evil business kids cannot be trusted. The Fuqua School of Business caught 34 MBA students cheating. Hey, if they cheat in grad school on a lousy take-home test, then do you really think there’s any ethical hurdle for subliminal persuasion?

Imagine the horror in the press when this breaks! Then maybe Congressional hearings. Maybe Henry Waxman will get in on this.

Seriously, subliminal technology in an immediate sales environment would probably be fairly effective. And remember, subliminal, by definition, means what you don’t see is what you get. In other words, you don’t know it’s there and hence you cannot by definition have any kind of volition or consent in the interaction.

And past the sales environment, it becomes an interesting training problem. A company could require employees to wear these goggles as part of the job and within normal use, provide subliminal bursts about motivation, honesty, and effort. The company could provide full disclosure of the possible use of subliminals and require consent as a condition for employment. Thus, you’d sign on for it, but then never know when you’re actually getting the subliminals (because if you knew, they wouldn’t work).

Interesting times and all that.