💰 What is attention theft?

Today’s newsletter is a short exploration of a non-so-sweet trend:

Attention Theft.

Attention theft is when a company shows an advertisement to someone who has not consented to seeing it.

Most of the time, people aren't explicitly consenting to seeing advertisements.

But if you're:

• reading a newspaper 📰

• watching television 📺

• or scrolling Instagram… 📱

There is an implicit agreement that you will be shown advertisements alongside the content you are purposefully reading or watching.

Billboard advertisements are a classic example of attention theft.

Imagine you’re in the passenger seat of a car, daydreaming as you watch the clouds & landscape roll by.

Suddenly, you’re shown an advertisement for a new low-sugar energy drink loaded with protein.

Now, the moment’s been ruined by some corporate entity that has designed this advertisement to be as attention-grabbing as possible.

Another example of attention theft is cars with huge television screens that show advertisements to anyone unfortunate enough to glance at them.

There are also planes and boats that ride around showing advertisements to people.

These things are annoying, but they’re not that bad…

Right?

Although these things may seem innocuous, they represent the endless encroachment of consumerism into every aspect of our lives.

Any blank space in our day— a short taxi ride or a walk by the water — that would normally allow us a moment of calm reflection or a chance to turn off our brains becomes an opportunity for marketers to try to sell us things.

These ads are part of the growing attention economy, where companies pay for or create new ways to get people’s attention.

In 1971, economist Herbert Smith explained how the attention economy works in a world where endless information is available at our fingertips.

A half-century later, advertising firms like Dentsu have developed technology that tracks people's eye movements as they watch advertisements.

The goal: optimize these advertisements to grab as much of your attention as possible.

Scary, right?

We will continue on the topic of the attention economy next week.

And now, back to your regularly scheduled programming.

ART OF THE DAY

The Bridge of Sighs by Gustave Dore. 1870.