Inescapable advertising

Posted on Sep 22, 2009 in Marketing | 2 comments

Since the famous Burma Shave billboard campaigns began back in the 1930s, advertising has been creeping into more and more aspects of our lives. Consider just a few examples:

• Billboards have proliferated to the point where many cities have instituted bans or strict regulation (one of the worst examples is the drive from Las Vegas’s McCarran airport to the strip; its absolutely covered in them).
• Television show content-to-commercial time has fallen, with some estimates as low as 2/3; the same report says an average child watches 20,000 30-second commercials in a year.
• Most websites rely on ads to “monetize” their free content, whether they be tasteful text ads or garish, flashing pop-ups. “Free” streaming content (Pandora.com, Hulu.com, and even YouTube videos) interrupt content with advertising “gates” or overlays.
• Product placement is on the rise to counteract the proliferation of DVRs, which allow viewers to zip past commercials. If you’ve ever seen an episode of American Idol you’ll know that Coke, Ford, and AT&T are massive sponsors—even if you skip the commercials.

From these and many other examples, I shouldn’t have been surprised during a recent trip to see that the inescapable advertising monster had found new, obnoxious ways to annoy us:

Seat-tray advertisements

Verizon ad plastered on my seat tray

What better way to build brand loyalty than to associate it with the expectation of a beverage and a snack? At least that’s what the marketing genius who came up with seat-tray advertising must have thought. Only she was wrong.

I already found Verizon’s “can you hear me now?” guy and his posse of insane “in-network” groupies sort of annoying. Having it stare up at me most of my plane flight did nothing to endear me to the brand; in fact, I’d say it did the opposite (hence this post).

Who knows what this cost Verizon but with what they must spend on their massive TV, billboard, and magazine ad campaigns, this buy probably seemed like peanuts. (Now, if only US Airways had given us some peanuts on the flight…)

Baggage-carousel advertising displays

This screen helpfully showed me the same three ads for like 15 minutes. Thanks.

After enduring the seat-trays, I was dismayed to find another novel way to cram ads into our “mindspace”: a giant screen directly atop the baggage carousel. You’ll see from the photo that it’s right next to the ramp disgorging the bags onto the conveyor belt. In other words, you can’t help but see it.

Ads for taxis, hotels, local tours, restaurants and entertainment in airport arrival areas are nothing new. In fact, I have to admit those ads are more useful than most others because they relate directly to travelers’ needs. So what’s the big deal with another one?

First, placement: everyone stands around waiting for their luggage and looks at that very spot as they wait for their bags. The ads are therefore virtually unavoidable—a fact the airport marketers make very clear to advertisers, I’m sure. Its disrespectful to me that advertisers creep ever closer and become that much harder to tune out. Yes, I understand that’s the purpose of advertising but that doesn’t mean it’s good or acceptable.

How do I fight back? Well, other than ignoring billboards and muting (or skipping; thanks TiVo!) commercials, there’s not much else I can do other than write blog entries railing against the inevitable. What about you? What sort of advertising do you find most annoying?

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