Put a Message in a Zombie With Txt of the Living Dead

NOISIEL, France -- An American mashup artist let passers-by put words in giant zombies' mouths last week.

The show, called Txt of the Living Dead, projected 15-foot-wide, black-and-white stills from George A. Romero's classic 1968 Horror Flick Night of the Living Dead onto buildings. Text messages from random people on the street then filled comics-style speech balloons that were added to the images in what New York artist Paul Notzold called an "SMS-enabled interactive street performance."

"It's all uncensored, and that's the beauty of it," said Notzold, a 33-year-old art director who also teaches about cell phones at Parsons The New School for Design. "Where else can you write something so spontaneous and anonymous and see it projected so large?" (al)

Urban Camouflage

A vending-machine dress, the eccentric product of clothing designer Aya Tsukioka, could offer a woman walking alone a way to elude pursuers. Hmm, sounds like mobile marketing to me! (al)

Your Brain on Advertising

Do you ever get the creepy feeling that advertisers know how to put a lump in your throat, inspire subconscious brand loyalty, or make your mouth water? Just wait: It could get worse. An emerging technique called neuromarketing that uses brain scans to measure human response to promotional messages is starting to catch on in Europe—and soon ads may become even more effective at prompting you to pull out your wallet. Orwellian, perhaps. But for companies looking to fine-tune their promotions and boost sales, neuromarketing offers the enticing prospect of a quantitative way to test the subconscious effectiveness of ads, jingles, and logos before spending big bucks on placements. That’s a godsend for marketers wary of the sometimes unreliable results of focus groups and other field testing. (al)

Sayonara, Tobias!

(a!m)