Archive for the ‘writing prompt’ Category
Advertising told through Science Fiction?
I was smart, and downloaded WAY more hours of podcasts than I’d need to get myself to Maryland and back, so now I’m working my way through the thumb drive to see what’s good and what will get deleted.
I like science-y podcasts. I don’t need Great Courses Astrophysics, pop-science is more than adequate for my commute.
Today’s commute included an episode of NPR’s Hidden Brain, titled “This is Your Brain on Ads”. the podcast included a short history of advertising, like radio jingles, fun mascots for sugary kid’s cereals, product placement in TV shows and radio, superbowl ads, all the way to instagram influencers. There was mention that children grow out of being easily influenced by about age 13, and younger than that and they really are convinced that Lucky Charms is part of a balanced breakfast. There was mention that the Superbowl can charge so much for ads because sports fans are the most loyal group of consumers.
There was an aside about MTV’s The Real World. Remember that show? It birthed the reality tv show phenomenon. MTV had zero budget, and needed a TV show (otherwise they were going to have to show sportsball), so they got a bunch of regular people who were willing to work for a whole lotta attention/fame/exposure, and not a lot of money. All the advertising that MTV sold that ran during that show was pure profit, because it cost them hardly anything to make the show.
There was a discussion of how our attention has value, and that our attention can be monetized.
And often we have zero control over how we respond to advertising. It has nothing to do with willpower (ok, maybe a little), but the advertising companies have figured out through trial, error, and studies, what exactly will make you keep watching that stupid infomercial.
And that got me thinking.
Science fiction is really good at taking relatively normal near-future things – genetically modified pets, using robots as caregivers for people with dementia, inescapable closed circuit tv, the dark side of social media and making your living as an instagram influencer, catching criminals, first contact with aliens, getting back to the Moon, the list is endless, because science fiction knows no bounds.
So what does a science fiction story that deals with the monetization of your attention look like? What might it look like from the person who is buying or brokering your attention, what might it look like from the person whose attention is being purchased and monetized? what will the future of advertising look like, through a science fiction lens?
Advertising + science fiction = ??
A title that comes to mind right away is Robert Jackson Bennett’s Vigilance, and 2007’s Grey by Jon Armstrong (which I feel would read as horribly dated now?).
What titles come to mind for you?
What might a science fiction author do with the prompt “what would advertising and monetization of consumer’s attention in the future look like?”
the Little Red Reviewer 
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