Flack Attack

Half a century ago George Orwell wrote 1984, a novel that depicts a world in which everyone has a television set in their room--a TV that watches you as you watch it, with government agents standing by to make sure you keep watching and responding in approved ways. According to Spy TV, Orwell's dystopic vision may not be far off. Television sets that monitor their audience are currently in the planning stages, and while they may offer somewhat better entertainment than Orwell imagined, corporate marketers already have plans to use them in ways that make Orwell's fears of mind control seem eerily on target.is a 160-page book, edited by David Burke with contributions by Deirdre Devers, Jean Lotus, Simon Davies and Ibrahim Hasan. It quotes marketing gurus, pollsters and programmers who are enthusiastic about their plans to develop "interactive TV," which Burke suggests will mean unprecedented new levels of corporate intrusion into the privacy of our own homes.

Traditional television certainly has its own share of flaws--the "boob tube" that encourages us to tune in, turn on and zone out. Burke does a great job of capturing the ways that traditional TV has eviscerated popular culture. Interactive television, however, adds the ability for marketing gurus to monitor and manage our behavior while we watch whatever digital video spectacle they decide to place in front of our eyeballs.

With interactive TV, every choice we make--whether it be to order a pizza or switch channels--can be tracked in a database controlled by the TV service provider. As direct marketers well know, that sort of information is extremely valuable to business, and they have lots of plans to use it. The day may not be far off when intimate details about our buying, sexual and political choices are scrupulously tracked in "real time" and sold to companies that manipulate our thoughts and behavior.

Burke describes interactive TV as a sort of enticing but dumbed-down internet, in which "end users" make decisions only within the context of the choices offered by media slicksters. Even more disturbing is an essay by Deirdre Devers titled "Fun: How the TV Set Will Raise Children." Devers details marketers' plans to draw children into this new virtual reality, in which cyber-friends replace real ones and their toys are programmed to say things such as, "Mmm, I smell french fries. I'm hungry--are you?"

Notwithstanding the disturbing nature of this vision, Spy TV is an enjoyable read, leavened with wit and little sparklers of sly insight. Issued in 1999 by Slab-o-Concrete Publications, a small press in England, Spy TV has not found a large readership, which is a shame because it is full of important insights into trends that may shape our brave new cyber-future. PR Watch is pleased to publish these excerpts.

To buy the book (ISBN 1899866256), visit its website (www.spyinteractive.com), or contact White Dot USA, PO Box 1187, Oak Park IL 60304. White Dot also has its own website (www.whitedot.org).