Do Humans Dream of Electric Ads?

Responding to Molson Coors' 2021 attempt to implant commercials into the dreams of sleeping consumers, I explore how emerging forms of "targeted dream incubation" threaten to transform sleep from a condition of economic refuge into a state of intensified exposure to "24/7" rhythms of economic engagement. More specifically, I argue that developing research in "dream engineering" shifts contemporary relationships to sleep by suggesting that the time we spend asleep might become even more suitable to imposed procedures of economic production and consumption than time spent awake. Rather than re-affirming a fundamental incompatibility between sleep and capitalism, I argue that targeted dream incubation anticipates a future in which capitalism incorporates and exploits sleep as a novel frontier of economic optimization.