In our uber technological world, where new gadgets pop up ever day, the collective American attention span is approaching that of a houseplant. We need our info fast and we need everywhere, including, according to NBC, at the gas station.
That's what they' re banking on anyway, with the creation of localized content for the gas station video screens operated by VST Media Network. All right, it's officially reached a point of lunacy. It wasn't enough to be able to watch TV in the car, now we must watch it when we take a three-minute break to pump gas? It's not enough to have thousands of television channels and an endless internet? Even the elevator at my work has a television in it, broadcasting a special elevator network. It's tele-zak. I've even seen TVs on the walls in front of urinals and now this.
Fewer and fewer places are without TVs these days. In fact, the onslaught of media saturation makes one wonder when there will be a backlash -- a harkening back to the days when there weren't televisions installed inside of trees and on the top of your collie. Until then though, expect to see a TVs everywhere. Including inside your brain.
Dan Smith @ Tue, 04/18/2006 - 6:29pm
The thing is, stuff like this doesn't approach the saturation levels of advertising. If you stop to think about the sheer number of ads you see even in a five minute span (billboards, fliers, on top of cabs, on the bus stop, the back of your Metrocard, not to mention all the actual businesses whose storefronts double as ad space), it's mind-boggling.
When I pump gas, I'm usually staring at an ad for a 99 cent bag of chips, or I'll look around and see a billboard. So long as this type of thing produces even the slightest bit of substance, it's an improvement.
You're on a roadtrip and the kids want to listen to the Backstreet Boys on repeat (because apparently I've created an example that takes place in 1998). You stop to get gas; it's been hours since you caught a glimpse of the news on the way out the door. Suddenly you're face-to-face with the day's headlines.
Not too shabby if you ask me.