A recent study reveals that 54 percent of young Americans between the ages of 18 and 35 have dreams influenced by advertisements, with 38 percent having them regularly. Some companies are reportedly exploring ways to harness this natural predisposition, perhaps through techniques such as sounds, images or subliminal messages, to have their products or brands appear in people’s dreams, potentially influencing their behavior and purchasing decisions.
The survey of a sample of consumers conducted by Survey Monkey and published in January by The Media Image agency found that while two-thirds of consumers (66 percent) report resistance to shopping based on their dreams, the other third admit that their dreams have encouraged them to purchase products or services in the past year. In addition, the study reports that the presence of major brands in dreams seems to be particularly prevalent. In this sense, 48 percent of young Americans told of having encountered famous brands such as Coca-Cola, Apple or McDonald’s in their dreams. However, this phenomenon seems to have a scientific explanation as Harvard experts suggest that this could be due to a brain process of “reactivation” of memory during sleep, where frequent exposure to the brands of various products in daily life increases their likelihood of appearing in dreams.
For some time now, marketing has resorted to the use of subliminal messages. These are stimuli that are presented at a subconscious level to influence people’s behavior or perceptions without them realizing it. In the context of advertising, such as that of Coca-Cola, subliminal messages have been used to promote the product since the 1980s. In one of the most celebrated cases, Coca Cola used the approach in the Ridley Scott classic film, Blade Runner (1982). In the current view, however, these should be studied by marketers so as to strike the attention of consumers to act and “activate” during the dream phase.
Despite the ethical issues that may increasingly arise regarding the phenomenon of commercialization of human consciousness and the potential exploitation of people’s vulnerable mental states for marketing purposes, 41 percent of respondents said they would be open to the possibility of seeing ads in their dreams if it would be used to obtain discounts on products or services.
Meanwhile, the American Marketing Association has already reported that 77 percent of companies surveyed in 2021 expressed their intention to experiment with “dream ads” within this year.
