Yes indeed, this morning it is all over the internet…
“Well mop it up then” I hear you cry in the disapproving tone of Blackadder.
I am referring to a wonderful piece of marketing that is being done by Hyundai as they prepare everyone for what they are claiming “could be the biggest group hypnosis session ever” due to their advertisements during the Superbowl XLV this year.
Their first ad is actually called “Hypnotized” and refers to how people have been hypnotized into accepting certain standards of cars. Ok, so clever idea. However, the second advertisement attempts to actually be hypnotic.
The press release doing the rounds on the internet (which can be found in full here at PR Newswire) explains the following with regards to their second advertisement entitled “Deprogramming” that will be shown during the Superbowl too:
“Deprogramming” seeks to hypnotize 100 million viewers simultaneously through a kaleidoscope of graphics featuring compact car stereotypes paired with a soothing voiceover declaring, among other things, “compact cars can be more.” Once the viewer is fully entranced, the voice calmly brings them back to reality saying, “Snap out of it, man.” After the Elantra reveal, look for Hyundai to play further off viewers lulled into therapeutic susceptibility with a light-hearted nod to New Age empowerment.
You can go and view it at this page at Hyundai’s website. It is filled with a variety of cliché images (including swinging watches) with kaleidoscopic visions twirling on the page. The Barry White wannabe voiceover used says things like “I want you to focus on the screen and relax” and “when I snap fingers you’ll realise…” Of course, it is not hypnosis as we know it… And the advert in fact gets a bit tongue-in-cheek at the end…
The point I wanted to make is this… Hypnosis still intrigues. Hypnosis carries with it some mystique. There is still a huge misconception about hypnosis and how it works and an equally huge amount of misinformation (perpetuated by this kind of thing) that makes the very terms “biggest ever hypnosis session” or “mass hypnosis” get associated to all manner of feelings and thoughts.
I think it is clever to use this as marketing in one of the biggest sporting events in the world… But it’s not hypnosis, is it? If it were, it would not be allowed I am guessing…
Ok, I am off now, I have clients to tend to, a weekend diploma course to prepare for, a hypnosis geek dinner tonight and I’d better go get on with them all… And do go and listen to the latest two editions of the podcast, they have just gone live with some great points of debate about the field of hypnosis.
Ok… So fix your eyes on the football… Stare at it… Your eyelids are feeling heavier… You are feeling sleepy….
