Advertising as torture

Those of us who have grown up watching commercial television can attest to the extraordinary pain advertisements can cause. Now, according to an article in the NY Times, a University of Southern Florida psychologist named Randy Borum has suggested that we could use the techniques of modern advertising in interrogation.

“We have a whole social science literature on persuasion,” Mr. Borum said. “It’s mostly on how to get a person to buy a certain brand of toothpaste. But it certainly could be useful in improving interrogation.”

No, not the Geico ad again! Makes you want to spill your guts before they even get started.