Blinking electrionic cereal boxes foreshadow a nightmarish new age of annoying advertisements

Sweet Lord have mercy. This will certainly turn out to be one of the most irritating mis-uses of technology for marketing purposes ever.  One could envision legitimate uses use for big, cheap flashing displays– road signs, elevator buttons, etc… but this … this.

Don’t be surprised if you start to see people falling down in the fetal position and having seizures in the cereal and soda pop aisles (assuming you even go to this type of big chain store that would have flashing cereal boxes, hopefully not).

Flashing, strobing imagery exploits the fight or flight mechanism to distract your attention.  When a human, (or any animal) sees blinking light out of its’ peripheral vision, that activates a very important survival instinct, which in the wild can mean the difference between being someone’s lunch and living another day.  Advertisers know this.  It’s a tactic of activation of stress-inducing neural pathways for brand imprinting, and an assault on our collective peace of mind.

Corporations beware, there are many consumers who find this to be annoying and wasteful. There is no need to put disposable electronics in cereal packaging. Why don’t you donate that few cents per box to some starving children in a 3rd world country instead, and print that on the box (with regular ink).  There’s your advertisement. Do something good.