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The box is also being used by psychologists to help people lose weight, stop smoking and overcome phobias like the fear of flying. If subliminals were put on TV, explains Becker, they could be directed specifically at such killers as obesity, drugs and bad driving. Says he: "We could eliminate weight problems in one generation, reduce auto Insurance by 50%."
Becker is not worried about abuses.
He says that he has already turned down politicians and advertisers who wanted to hire him, and explains that his black boxes include a "fail safe" mechanism that prevents clients from playing anything but the message he has programmed into them. Still, many Americans would undoubtedly be outraged by any secret at tempts to influence their behavior for better or worse. As Aryeh Neier, former executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union, puts it, "People have a right to go about their business without being subjected to manipulation they don't even know about ." ∙