She singled out a campaign by Disney – “Remember the magic” – which, she claimed, was used to invoke real or imaginary childhood memories in consumers. | She reported an experiment in which people were shown an advert suggesting that children who visited Disneyland had the opportunity to shake hands with Bugs Bunny. Later, many of those who had seen the advert “remembered” meeting Bugs on childhood visits to the theme park, a feat that would have been impossible, given that the cartoon is a Warner Brothers character. Loftus said: “This brings forth ethical considerations. Is it OK for marketers to knowingly manipulate consumers’ pasts?” —David Benady —Selling You a New Past (Independent)
View Comments
Too late. Marketers (& psychologists, hypnotists, interrogators, cult leaders, etc. just to name a few) have been using the techniques. The only thing that's changed is that in the past decade we've learned how & why such techniques work. The ethical issues are the same for any other technique of persuasion.