Disney's "Advertising lab"

Well, I find this interesting and disturbing, but perhaps not surprising. Disney and other companies have created laboratory environments to monitor viewer responses to advertising on a medical nd neurological level. As the article says, "the tools are advanced: in addition to tracking eye movement, Dr. Varan and his 14-member team use heart-rate monitors, skin temperature readings and facial expressions (probes are attached to facial muscles) to reach conclusions."

I wasn't sure exactly what forum to put this in, but I chose this one because it certainly is "psychological."

AUSTIN, Tex. — A technician in a black lab coat gazed at the short, middle-aged man seated inside the Walt Disney Company’s secretive new research facility here last week, his face shrouded with eye-tracking goggles. Read ESPN.com on that BlackBerry, she told him soothingly, like a nurse about to draw blood. “And have fun,” she added, leaving the room.

At the Disney Media and Advertising Lab in Austin, Tex., computers follow the eye and facial movements of participants, providing data on what kinds of Internet ads attract attention.

In reality, the man’s appetite for sports news was not of interest. (The site was a fake version anyway.) Rather, the technician and her fellow researchers were eager to know how the man responded to ads of varying size. How small could the banners become and still draw his attention?

A squadron of Disney executives scrutinized the data as it flowed in real time onto television monitors in an adjacent room. “He’s not even looking at the banner now,” said Duane Varan, the lab’s executive director. The man clicked to another page. “There we go, that one’s drawing his attention.”

More at source:
www.nytimes.com...

[edit on 10/24/09 by silent thunder]

Disney is EVIL to the core.

www.sermonaudio.com...^A.^Johnson&keyworddesc=Sco tt+A.+Johnson&currsection=sermonsspeaker&AudioOnly=false&SpeakerOnly=true&keywordwithin=disney&x=16&y=12

[edit on 25-10-2009 by StopComplaining]

I would like to ask a question if I may, have you ever been obsessed with Disney, or have you ever known anyone who is obsessed with Disney?

reply to post by StopComplaining



I met some woman about 15 years ago who said she'd been to Disneyland (or Disneyworld, whatever one) TWENTY-SEVEN TIMES.

Personally, I'd rather lose an earlobe than set foot in that hellbroth.