Bunkered within an icy Helsinki restaurant, a hundred marketing experts embarked on the journey to pen a simple, yet iconic slogan. Their desire was to attract tourists across the globe. However, this was no easy task. There was a variety of ideas tossed around, from nudity to a holistic quote on nature. Yet in this search, these Finnish experts derived a brilliant slogan from out of nothing. In 2011, thousands of adventurers flocked to Finland because of the words it echoed: “Silence, please.”
Silence sells. It sells because of its sheer ambiguity. The word itself, rooted in the Latin word for “pain”, has been manifested in society in numerous way. An example of this occurred in 1964. Songwriting duo Simon and Garfunkel desperately compressed the elements of this strange phenomenon in the song “The Sound of Silence,” which enviably hit No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1966. Time and time again, poets, musicians, scientists, and dreamers have tried to understand the complexity of what seems to be nothing. Yet despite their efforts, so many have lost sight to the simple essence of silence. …show more content…
Depending on the level of noise, individuals can be at a mental disadvantage. This was found in a research study. Arline Bronzaft, professor at the City University of New York, was one of the first researchers to find that noise decreases learning. Before she was at the university, she taught in an underdeveloped school next to the railroad. In her classic 1974 study, she found that the “reading scores of sixth-grade students” who were in classrooms closest to the trains were “a year behind” those in the quieter side of the school (Gross). Bronzaft went on to use this information to show that inner city kids were at a disadvantage because of noise pollution. Silence gives children from any socioeconomic stage a chance to grow and learn; however, it is the insidious effects of noise that create great
Silence sells. It sells because of its sheer ambiguity. The word itself, rooted in the Latin word for “pain”, has been manifested in society in numerous way. An example of this occurred in 1964. Songwriting duo Simon and Garfunkel desperately compressed the elements of this strange phenomenon in the song “The Sound of Silence,” which enviably hit No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1966. Time and time again, poets, musicians, scientists, and dreamers have tried to understand the complexity of what seems to be nothing. Yet despite their efforts, so many have lost sight to the simple essence of silence. …show more content…
Depending on the level of noise, individuals can be at a mental disadvantage. This was found in a research study. Arline Bronzaft, professor at the City University of New York, was one of the first researchers to find that noise decreases learning. Before she was at the university, she taught in an underdeveloped school next to the railroad. In her classic 1974 study, she found that the “reading scores of sixth-grade students” who were in classrooms closest to the trains were “a year behind” those in the quieter side of the school (Gross). Bronzaft went on to use this information to show that inner city kids were at a disadvantage because of noise pollution. Silence gives children from any socioeconomic stage a chance to grow and learn; however, it is the insidious effects of noise that create great