Are advertisers coming for your dreams?

Similar work published in 2000 in Science, in which Harvard neuroscientists asked people to play several hours of the computer game Tetris for 3 days, found that slightly more than 60% of the players reported having dreams about the game.This year, Barrett consulted with the Molson Coors Beverage Company on an online advertising campaign that ran during the Super Bowl. “Of course you can play ads to someone as they are sleeping, but as far as having much effect, there is little evidence.” Dream incubation “doesn’t seem very cost effective” compared with traditional advertising campaigns, she says.That doesn’t mean that future attempts couldn’t do better, says Antonio Zadra, a dream researcher at the University of Montreal who signed the statement. Harvard neuroscientist Robert Stickgold, who ran the Tetris study, is even more emphatic: “They are coming for your dreams, and most people don’t even know they can do it.”The letter writers say that because there are no regulations specifically addressing in-dream advertising, companies might one day use smart speakers like Alexa to detect people’s sleep stages and play back sounds that could influence their dreams and behaviors. He adds that U.S. law is evolving to include more specific prohibitions on subliminal messaging.Tore Nielsen, a dream researcher at the University of Montreal who did not sign the statement, says his colleagues have a “legitimate concern.” But he thinks interventions like this won’t work unless the dreamer is aware of the manipulation—and willing to participate.