Our family is taking a holiday, for the first time in quite a while… Part of the big adventure for all our little children has been plane ride! Up, up and AWAY!
I noticed something, and I thought I’d share.
Approaching the airport, inside – and now more than ever in the plane we are being mind spammed to consume, consume consume.
- The terminal is filled with Plasma TV’s spamming our minds with all sorts of consumption options.
- An inflight magazine, filled with places we will never go, products we will never buy like the $590 magical stereo headphones that feature a foam padded ear cushion.
- An in seat display that won’t switch off, requests money for live to air TV, and even the map switches to an advert before its possible to determine the location of the aircraft. Even the earphones (without foam cushion) are free – another mind spamming opportunity.
It seems the advertisers know they have a bored and captive audience and use this to indulge their spamming desires. I think of the erosion it does to people still captive to their messages.
However one thing amused me. There wasn’t a Buy NOW button for the headphones. How log will it be before passengers will be hand complimentary in flight tablets, complete with a sheltered Internet of flash advertising?
Sam.
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No doubt this is happening. I agree most of it is Mindspam. In this case we can blame the ever declining cost of the screen… But I can’t help but think the ‘good screens’ give us useful shortcuts and reduce the time it takes to get some things done. Like check in at an airport (though I’m well aware that driving force behind these isn’t saving us time and more about saving them wages). It comes back to that argument that technologists put forward in the 1970′s that the technology will reduce the working week to 3 days…. I’m still waiting. Seems the more time we have, the more we expect from people.
Think I might go and sit under a tree for a few hours….
Steve.
I had noticed it too. (Followed Steve here). And even when we think we are immune to it, we probably aren’t completely.
I think Steve is right, though, too.