Mon 9 Mar 2009
Quick! Who’s on a US ten dollar bill? Do you know? If yes, congrats (and you can stop reading now). But if not…think about why you don’t know. After all, assuming you live in the United States, you’ve probably seen hundreds or even thousands of those bills in your lifetime.
The reason is this: you don’t remember what doesn’t engage you. In fact, you barely even *see* something that doesn’t engage you first. If there’s no story, or message, or context or relevance to you, something you see almost every day might as well be invisible. So marketers, advertisers, writers, information pushers – why does so much of what you do not have any effect on people? Just ask Alexander Hamilton.
I would argue the bigger reason you may not know who is on the $10 bill is because of overexposure. Perhaps, at one point in your life, you looked at it and asked your mommy or daddy who it was. But like a television commercial you see over and over (and over), you begin to tune it out. And after a thousand exposures your brain works in reverse, actively trying to forget it. That’s why it’s so shocking every time the Treasury redesigns currency, or adds a splash of non-green. You notice it again…even if you don’t notice who’s on it.
Interesting to think of your brain “actively trying to forget” that which it becomes over exposed to. I do find that phenomena, where sometimes I don’t even “see” something anymore.
I’m sure there are exceptions to this rule but this the bottom line most of the time.;