Attention for sale
There is a memorable line in the children’s story, The Pied Piper of Hamelin. Asked what was so great about his invention, the cunning, flautist replies: “I attract attention; chiefly with a secret charm… Who doesn’t know of the Pied Piper?”
Who knew that the story of the Piper would one day be a metaphor for the advertising industry?
When we get down to thinking about it, consciousness is really a scarcity. In the limited waking time we have in a day, we try to fit in all the things we need to get done, but somehow, the sheer mass of distraction that turn our heads is astounding. The business of grabbing attention, and holding it, is tough and has been tempered over several decades. Tim Wu’s The Attention Merchants: The Epic Struggle to Get Inside Our Heads offers a thorough, introspective study of the evolution of this attention industry, i.e., the advertising industry in the United States over the last 100 years.
The Attention Merchants is perhaps summarised best in the harmless way we phrase the instruction “pay attention”. In fact, Mr Wu says that we are defined by what we pay attention to and by what occupies our mind from moment to moment.
The book is a fascinating read and though Mr Wu only traces the mushrooming of the attention industry in the United States, we find relatable examples that ride on the global trend in India as well.
The book covers three themes: A history of the leaps in the advertising industry; an introspection of online ads and merchants of these wares today; and why there is a need for a human reclamation project.
Beginning by tracing the evolution of the American ad industry over the last century, Mr Wu analyses how technological breakthroughs such as the radio, the television, the internet, even the remote control paved new roads for the advertiser to get inside our heads. Riding on the back of these inventions, the attention merchants forever changed consumer behaviour by tapping into our deepest desires and our insecurities. They conveyed to us that their wares were not just things – they were important indications of social standing.
Mr Wu brings out the landmark changes in advertising over each decade. We start by seeing that once sold as medicine, snake oil was just hogwash marketed as magic. We then march through the World War II years and notice how governments held their nations’ attention by evoking fear, righteousness, and even vengeance. Once the fifties hit America, we begin to see chinks in the attention merchants’ armour – consumers began realising that scams were being conducted to capture their mind-space, and this in turn ushered in a different theme of ads.
The second theme of the book roughly begins in the glorious nineties, with the advent of the internet. Mr Wu shows us that even on the web, the attention industry is ever-present, ads are permanently in the background, lightly knocking at the corners of our consciousness, advocating answers to our problems. Here Mr Wu is at his best – taking us through the invention of Google’s subtle AdWords program, the novel contribution of social media like Instagram to the attention industry, and the sprouting up of bloggers and influencers as the attention merchant’s agents. He asks us to stop and take notice of the disturbing precedent this would set for the future, if it goes unchecked.
Mr Wu argues on behalf of the unassuming consumer, who is often forced to pay the attention currency. He makes important arguments when he discusses the personal data that digital advertising companies amass, especially by collecting data without obtaining its audience’s free and knowing consent.
However, as these things don’t take place in a vacuum, it is necessary to look at the ad industry from the perspective of the business as well. In a heavily competitive market, a business thrives when it stays on in as many minds as possible. Equally, not all attention merchants set out to sell snake oil. As Mr Wu says, “Where the human gaze goes, business soon follows.”
Understanding this, Mr Wu suggests that the most effective way to not be overcome by the attention merchant is to consciously, meticulously switch off from time to time. While this is a healthy practice, it might be too far and too little in the face of a robust beast such as advertising.
Interestingly, Mr Wu proposes adopting a different technological ethic as a means to reclaim the human attention. He argues for a shift in thinking such that technology can actually help us focus and think instead of distracting us. Because they create room for businesses, attention merchants as well as lawmakers to adapt to this ethic, solutions on this front are endless and desirable.
The Attention Merchants is a fascinating book, a needed reminder that we must not blindly follow the Pied Piper to the brink of the river.
THE ATTENTION MERCHANTS: The Epic Struggle to Get Inside Our Heads Tim Wu Atlantic Books 416 pages; ~499