The Ethics and Tech of Dream Seeding

New technology is taking researchers — and advertisers — into barely charted terrain: Your sleeping mind.

By Avery Hurt
Jun 8, 2023 12:00 AMNov 3, 2023 6:23 PM
DSC-PM0523 1
Electrodes and wires help create a glimpse of dreaming minds at Swansea University Sleep Lab during a recent study with researcher Michelle Carr (Credit: Guy Wilkinson).

Newsletter

Sign up for our email newsletter for the latest science news
 

In a not-so-distant future, when a burbling stream cascading down the Rocky Mountains appears in your dreams, you might be skeptical of who planted it there. While the notion of a corporation seeding dreams in the sleeping mind sounds like a science fiction plot, some consumers began taking the idea seriously in 2021.

That’s when Molson Coors ran an online video touting its “targeted dream incubation” campaign. The premise of the project was to plant images of Coors beer into the dreams of football fans before the 2021 Super Bowl. The company called it “the world’s largest dream study.” Some might call it a nightmare.

The documentary-style ad online, which featured respected sleep researcher Deirdre Barrett and a behind-the-scenes-glimpse of a Coors sleep study, mostly amounted to a marketing gimmick. (No research has been published based on the trial portrayed in the video.) But the science isn’t so far-fetched. A small but intrepid group of scientists is refining high-tech methods of tinkering with dreams, a field called dream engineering. Multiple marketing studies are also openly testing ways to use sleep and dream-hacking to drive purchasing behavior, according to Adam Haar, a dream engineer at the MIT Media Lab who has conducted cutting-edge dream research. One report in 2021 by the American Marketing Association New York even revealed that out of some 400 marketers surveyed at U.S. firms, 77 percent of their companies aimed to deploy dream tech for advertising within three years.

0 free articles left
Want More? Get unlimited access for as low as $1.99/month

Already a subscriber?

Register or Log In

0 free articlesSubscribe
Discover Magazine Logo
Want more?

Keep reading for as low as $1.99!

Subscribe

Already a subscriber?

Register or Log In

Stay Curious

Sign up for our weekly newsletter and unlock one more article for free.

 

View our Privacy Policy


Want more?
Keep reading for as low as $1.99!


Log In or Register

Already a subscriber?
Find my Subscription

More From Discover
Recommendations From Our Store
Shop Now
Stay Curious
Join
Our List

Sign up for our weekly science updates.

 
Subscribe
To The Magazine

Save up to 40% off the cover price when you subscribe to Discover magazine.

Copyright © 2024 Kalmbach Media Co.