Over the years, we’ve seen automakers and their sales people using all kind of tactics and gimmicks to sell us their products, but we can’t say we remember hypnosis being one of them.
Truth to be told, Hyundai is trying out hypnosis to create some internet buzz around its new i30 hatchback (to be sold as the Elantra GT in North America) rather than to actually directly sell its cars to European buyers, and from what we can tell, it’s succeeding in its mission.
The idea comes from Hyundai Holland, which employed British hypnotist Peter Powers to implement the “Online Hypnosis Experiment”. To make sure you’re going to watch it, the South Korean automaker tells us that it would be extremely illegal to broadcast it on television.
The project initiates viewers with a trailer showing three women falling in love with the i30 – both emotionally and physically.
The automaker’s video description reads: “Professional hypnotist Peter Powers will let you experience a unique online hypnosis experiment. An experiment that would be extremely illegal to broadcast on TV. None of the participants in this trailer are actors and the hypnosis is 100% real.”
Viewers can then try the experiment on themselves on a dedicated Dutch website at hypnose.i30.nl that is available in English but only after they read and agree to the disclaimer, which among other things, states that you have to be over 18, you do not suffer from physical, psychological or mental health problems and that you’re watching the clip from the Netherlands (even though it’s actually available for all…).
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