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Given the barrage of brands competing for your attention, some days it can feel as if the only time one can reliably expect to escape the desperate frenzy of consumerism is while asleep. However, as You Need This<\/em><\/a>,<\/em> the new documentary from Academy Award-winning producer Adam McKay<\/a>\u2019s Yellow Dot Studios reveals, a lot of corporations are hoping to break into that last safe haven as well.\u00a0<\/p>\n Weaving together several threads, the film, which debuted April 7 on Apple TV and Prime Video, traces Americans\u2019 love of shopping back to our colonial past and connects it with the rise of fast fashion\u2014all in service of a broader story about the current economic system and the catastrophic consequences the entire planet bears because of it.<\/p>\n Even among a nearly 90-minute collection of vignettes about manufacturing needs and constant stimulation, though, the section about how brands are using recent research to incept<\/a> ads within their target demo\u2019s dreams stands out for its reckless goal of gaining entry into the most intimate of private spaces. It\u2019s perhaps the most striking aspect of a stomach-churning tour through the excesses of unconstrained consumerism. <\/p>\n \u201cPublicly traded companies are by legal definition and requirement completely amoral,\u201d McKay tells Fast Company<\/em>. \u201cThey want only one thing, to raise their stock price, and the public good and common decency are just obstacles to be overcome or spun in that quest.\u201d<\/p>\n From dreams to capitalist nightmare<\/strong><\/p>\n Cognitive scientist Adam Haar Horowitz<\/a> was doing research at MIT in 2020 when made an incredible breakthrough<\/a>\u2014Targeted Dream Incubation. By pairing a glove-like sleep-tracking device with software that allowed him to interact with a subject in the early phases of sleep, he found he could use audio cues to guide someone toward specific topics in their dreams. A follow-up study<\/a> revealed that people who dreamed about a prompted topic through targeted incubation performed better at creative tasks related to that topic than those who didn\u2019t.<\/p>\n \u201cSleep touches every cognitive process we have,\u201d Haar Horowitz says. \u201cI wanted to know what happens when you touch it back.\u201d<\/p>\n Another result of the initial study, however, took Haar Horowitz by surprise. Brands immediately began clogging his inbox, seeking to use his team\u2019s research to<\/a>advertise inside people\u2019s\u00a0dreams. Although the scientist turned down every offer that didn\u2019t stop beer conglomerate Molson Coors from devising an experimental dream ad pegged to the 2021 Super Bowl.<\/p>\n