Research scientist Emma Lilton believes she has found a way of making subliminal imprinting (SI) which seeks to unconsciously control decision-making & impede free thinking in subjects highly effective Ordinarily SI would be illegal but when she persuades Jonathan Woodbridge the frustrated head of an advertising agency to use her technique in a TV commercial the results are astonishing Though SI loses its champions when a car crash ends their lives Woodbridge's successor Elliot Mason retrieves the secret behind SI & intends to employ it to ensure the agency attains unprecedented success However an extreme right-wing political party subsequently bribes him to employ the same method in political party broadcasts; the result is a disaster for the nation & the world changes for the worse