December 31st, 2003
Critics Target 'Omnipresent' Ads
By Michael McCarthy
USA Today
Ad creep is creeping some people out.
Ads are showing up everywhere. And creeping commercialism is prompting a growing debate about whether “ad pollution” is invading too much of consumers’ space.
The clutter goes far beyond traditional TV, print and radio ads.
Space invaders from the $ 250 billion advertising industry are slapping ads where you might least expect (or want) them: movies, schools, automated teller machines, personal cars, buses, elevators, phones, mailboxes, turnstiles, dry cleaning, trash cans, luggage bins and carousels, the beach—even affixed to fresh fruit.
“Is there any limit to omnipresent advertising?” asks Ralph Nader, Green Party presidential candidate and founder of the “Commercial Alert” protest group. “They want their logos on every available space, every human brow.”
There may be some limits. The backlash came to a head for one marketer on Wednesday. Coca-Cola bowed to growing criticism of marketing in schools and announced it will scale back its presence.
Coke will cover company logos on its 100,000 school vending machines as a first concession to activists who want schools to be commercial-free “clean zones.” Coke also will load the machines with more juices and water and urge bottlers to end exclusivity contracts that pay schools for the right to be the sole vendor. Pepsi is considering the same.
“We want teachers, parents and everyone concerned about commercialism and nutrition issues in our schools to know that we are committed to responding effectively to their wishes and needs,” says Jeffrey Dunn, president of Coca-Cola Americas.
But other than schools, is no place sacred?
Not according to the American Association of Advertising Agencies (AAAA). The major industry group has guidelines on some things, but none on whether there is any space that should be off-limits, reports Burtch Drake, president and chief executive officer.
“I shouldn’t be, but I’m constantly amazed that people find new places to put advertising,” Drake says. Even Drake believes,
“There are too many ads.” Gary Ruskin, director of Commercial Alert, complains, “There’s an effort to turn every square inch of this country into a billboard. When you have so much cognitive pollution, it’s hard for people to get some peace and quiet.”
Is the clutter that bad?
Various experts have calculated that, if all contacts are taken into account, the typical U.S. consumer is hit with anywhere from 2,500 to as many as 5,000 commercial messages every day. The AAAA argues the number is more like 250 per day—if you count only TV, radio, magazine and newspaper ads. And the industry group says its research shows that consumers give 136 out of those 250 ads “at least some attention.”
Recent flashpoints of ad creep pushing the limits of location—and good taste:
* Restroom ads. EarthLink is raising eyebrows with its recent invasion of the last bastion of privacy: the toilet. The company has slapped ads in the restrooms of 40 restaurant/bars in Washington and Austin, Texas, as part of a new campaign focusing on how it protects your privacy on the Internet. In men’s rooms, EarthLink has placed mirrors over urinals that carry the slogan: “EarthLink protects your privates.” In women’s rooms, a branded dispenser offers the same message, along with toilet seat covers.
EarthLink believes this is the perfect venue for their message about protecting Internet privacy.
“We call these places public restrooms—yet we have an expectation of privacy in them,” says Claudia Caplan, vice president of brand marketing for EarthLink. “There’s a similarity to the Internet.”
Caplan reports only “positive feedback” from consumers. Ruskin counters, “This shows advertising is going down the toilet.”
EarthLink now plans to hand out free cookies to consumers with wrappers that ask: “Do You Know Where Your Cookies Come From?”
-- a reference to the digital identifying markers that Web sites leave on your computer hard drive when you visit.
* Floating ads. Marketing buccaneers are taking to the high seas, but some landlubbers don’t like it one bit. Eco-conscious consumers in the San Francisco area, for example, complained after Oracle towed a “floating” banner across San Francisco Bay.
But they got no traction. It turns out that the San Francisco Bay Conservation & Development Commission has no jurisdiction over floating ads unless they are “moored in one location,” says staff counsel Jonathan Smith.
Not that the commission approves. “From our perspective, it’s like advertising in the Grand Canyon,” Smith says. Oracle executives did not return phone calls.
* Billboard trucks. In the canyons of New York, the city has been trying to get control of moving billboards. It is punishing drivers of billboard trucks by enforcing a century-old ban on such mobile ads. But the companies behind these rolling pitch platforms argue that the restrictions violate free speech. Similar free speech disputes are popping up in other cities.
* Naming rights. Stadium naming rights may be all the rage, but consumer groups in Denver fought hard in the name of civic pride, tradition and nostalgia to save the name Mile High Stadium for the city’s new replacement football venue. But they fought in vain: As a result of a $ 120 million deal, the new Invesco Stadium at Mile High opens Aug. 25.
* Forbidden fruit. As part of its “Yellow” campaign to promote its fall lineup of TV shows, ABC and ad agency TBWA/Chiat/Day, Los Angeles slapped ads on fresh bananas.
One sticker ad on a banana said: “Another Fine Use of Yellow: ABC.” The network has also placed ads on urinals, candy bowls, bar glasses, door hangers and at the beach.
Comments
- Posted by on November 1st, 2005
ANd what abuot google splattering ads all over the web?