After about thirty seconds of watching television the brain begins to produce alpha waves, which signify very low rates of activity, the same waves that are present during hypnosis. Realizing viewers automatically enter a trance state while watching television, marketers design commercials that produce unconscious emotional states or moods within the viewer. The aim of commercials is not to appeal to the rational or conscious mind (which usually dismisses advertisements) but rather to implant moods that the consumer will associate with the product when it is encountered in real life. Television commercials as well as other modes of advertising take advantage of the fact that advertising works better when you are not paying attention to it. Ambient marketing consists of advertisements that permeate consumer consciousness through non-intrusive, continuous, periphery display of advertiser’s information; it imposes an impression on consumers when they perhaps are not ready to receive, which means they are not prepared to ignore ads either.

My interest lies in the information we receive in the realm of the peripheral, and how the marketing has infiltrated that realm to feed passive consumerism. Marketing has become more than individual overt advertisements; it carries an underlying presence within our lives and exists within our periphery. My intention with this work is to recreate that space of passive absorption while attracting the viewer in the same way packaging and advertising do. It is my hope that the viewer will question the enticement of the work in the absence of imagery.