‘Mad Men’ of the future

When you open a bottle of medicine, an audio message will give you instructions and warnings about its use, as well as a plug for the pharma company. The justification: an “audio label’’ is easier for elderly patients than reading tiny print on a print label. So, if an audio microchip is “consumer-friendly,’’ expect to hear them too when you open beverage bottles and toothpaste. Shampoo bottles will give you an upbeat, musical pitch, reminding you to shampoo twice.

■INVASIVE . Hidden cameras already record people in a public setting or store. How long will it be before near-bankrupt municipalities and stores agree to “strategic alliances’’ with consumer research companies to allow constant monitoring (surveillance) and evaluation of individuals everywhere they go… examining their shopping, dining, and recreational patterns. They’ll call it “real-time data mining’’ or something innocuous like that.

Advertising will not just be interactive — it will anticipate, guide, encourage, and train you to be more effectively interactive. For example, if you decide to buy something online that is not the best bargain, you’ll be contacted and urged to change your mind by avatar czars (ad entities that track and protect you from impulses that you’ve acknowledged in ad-programs and/or because you’ve been designated an at-risk buyer by creditors and bankruptcy courts).