Slog - Comments on Ad Busted http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/04/ad_busted Someone that works at the Stranger—which smears ads all over our print edition and website—isn't really in any position to bitch about someone else, in this case an airline, forcing folks to look at advertisements. Still, I was shocked when I folded down my tray table on a recent flight and saw this... Just when thought they were running out of places to put ads, they discover a new way to make you stare at that dude in all those Verizon commercials. I discovered, however, that this Verizon isn't that hard to peel off your tray table.... Copyright 2008 Tue, 08 Apr 2008 09:15:39 -0800 Wed, 09 Apr 2008 09:11:11 -0800 http://www.movabletype.org/?v=3.34 http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss Comment by Cato the Younger Younger That is almost as bad as the clear tray they have at the Food Court at Westlake Center now. Clear so you can see the stupid ad that they have installed on the top of the damn tables now. GRRRRRRR!!!!!!

]]> Cato the Younger Younger http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/04/ad_busted#c992798 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/04/ad_busted#c992798 At Large Tue, 08 Apr 2008 09:51:31 -0800 Comment by Mr. Poe Set it on fire.

]]> Mr. Poe http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/04/ad_busted#c992803 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/04/ad_busted#c992803 At Large Tue, 08 Apr 2008 09:53:46 -0800 Comment by racerx Will this actually increase product awareness for Verizon? If so, will it increase sales? I'm just not sure how many people listen to their airline food trays for advice on wireless service.

]]> racerx http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/04/ad_busted#c992809 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/04/ad_busted#c992809 At Large Tue, 08 Apr 2008 09:57:57 -0800 Comment by Ivan Cockrum Dan, I'm surprised you haven't commented on the advertisements for the zappo online shoe store that are plastered at the bottom of the trays you throw your shoes in before passing through x-ray inspection. Talk about adding insult to injury.

]]> Ivan Cockrum http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/04/ad_busted#c992812 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/04/ad_busted#c992812 At Large Tue, 08 Apr 2008 10:01:05 -0800 Comment by DOUG. You shoulda drawn a penis on the Verizon guy.

]]> DOUG. http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/04/ad_busted#c992821 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/04/ad_busted#c992821 At Large Tue, 08 Apr 2008 10:06:31 -0800 Comment by Karlheinz Arschbomber I'd like to personally tattoo the verizon guy's image on the cornea of the airline exec who approved this atrocity.

]]> Karlheinz Arschbomber http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/04/ad_busted#c992831 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/04/ad_busted#c992831 At Large Tue, 08 Apr 2008 10:13:47 -0800 Comment by Jubilation T. Cornball Dan, America West (US Airways) has been doing this since 2005. Others do it now, too.

Check out this shill copy from a company selling the space on those tray tables:

Meal Tray Table Ads - America West only.
Finally an advertisement medium that can't be ignored. Over 98% of travelers use their tray on flights over one hour. With 69.5% Business Travelers and Median Household income of $129,000 and over 91% own a primary residence... you won't want to miss this opportunity. Top 10 markets are: NY, Los Angeles CA, IL, PA, San Francisco CA, MA, TX, DC, GA and MI.

Hey Dan -- you're part of an unmissable opportunity! How cool is that? Maybe you, the BF and the kid should go out tonight and celebrate that fact! Woot!

]]> Jubilation T. Cornball http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/04/ad_busted#c992849 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/04/ad_busted#c992849 At Large Tue, 08 Apr 2008 10:22:00 -0800 Comment by anonymous So, what airline was it? Choosy fliers want to know.

]]> anonymous http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/04/ad_busted#c992854 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/04/ad_busted#c992854 At Large Tue, 08 Apr 2008 10:24:38 -0800 Comment by Fnarf I should start a business selling tray-sized doilies in airports to cover the ads. I wonder if I'd be allowed to sell them on the plane.

]]> Fnarf http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/04/ad_busted#c992874 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/04/ad_busted#c992874 At Large Tue, 08 Apr 2008 10:34:28 -0800 Comment by TheMisanthrope @7:

Top Ten Markets: ... MI

Michigan?!!?

Well, ok. If they say so. Michigan doesn't have much spending money right now.

]]> TheMisanthrope http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/04/ad_busted#c992925 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/04/ad_busted#c992925 At Large Tue, 08 Apr 2008 10:59:04 -0800 Comment by keshmeshi @9,

You could market that to germophobes too. Who's to say that those things get cleaned regularly?

]]> keshmeshi http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/04/ad_busted#c992929 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/04/ad_busted#c992929 At Large Tue, 08 Apr 2008 11:00:32 -0800 Comment by Ash Grimm This quote from Futurama seems appropriate:

Leela: Didn't you have ads in the 21st century?"
Fry: Well sure, but not in our dreams. Only on TV and radio, and in magazines, and movies, and at ball games... and on buses and milk cartons and t-shirts, and bananas and written on the sky. But not in dreams, no siree.

]]> Ash Grimm http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/04/ad_busted#c992937 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/04/ad_busted#c992937 At Large Tue, 08 Apr 2008 11:03:16 -0800 Comment by orson This is sorta like the pot calling the kettle names, isn't it, Dan? The Slog takes forever to load on my computer while Slog advertising is retrieved from the agency for posting to my computer screen. Then the damn things start blinking!

]]> orson http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/04/ad_busted#c993052 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/04/ad_busted#c993052 At Large Tue, 08 Apr 2008 11:55:13 -0800 Comment by Gomez I would hope Southwest doesn't follow suit.

The sort of cluelessness that produces these ideas is exactly the sort of cluelessness that has slowly driven the airline industry into the ground.

]]> Gomez http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/04/ad_busted#c993095 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/04/ad_busted#c993095 At Large Tue, 08 Apr 2008 12:16:20 -0800 Comment by Will in Seattle I see a lot of mustaches and alien antennae in their future ...

]]> Will in Seattle http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/04/ad_busted#c993153 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/04/ad_busted#c993153 At Large Tue, 08 Apr 2008 12:39:57 -0800 Comment by Andy Niable The term "captive audience" comes to mind?

]]> Andy Niable http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/04/ad_busted#c993329 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/04/ad_busted#c993329 At Large Tue, 08 Apr 2008 14:42:04 -0800 Comment by still a computer dumb dumb i'm just glad urinal ads haven't caught on:
http://openspace.adverblog.com/archives/img/200-work-thumb.jpg

http://adsoftheworld.com/files/images/soccer_urinal.preview.jpg

]]> still a computer dumb dumb http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/04/ad_busted#c993334 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/04/ad_busted#c993334 At Large Tue, 08 Apr 2008 14:44:43 -0800 Comment by PopTart @12, this month's Wired has an article about hypersonic sound and how the next civil rights battle will be over the mind. The article starts with how the author was walking down a street in Manhattan and suddenly he hears a woman's voice--in his head. It's an ad for an A&E show.

In the future not even our minds are safe from Verizon ads! "Can you hear me now?"

]]> PopTart http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/04/ad_busted#c993344 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/04/ad_busted#c993344 At Large Tue, 08 Apr 2008 15:00:25 -0800 Comment by Dan Savage Uh... 13?

"Someone that works at the Stranger—which smears ads all over our print edition and website—isn’t really in any position to bitch about someone else, in this case an airline, forcing folks to look at advertisements."

That's from the post you just... read?

]]> Dan Savage http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/04/ad_busted#c993357 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/04/ad_busted#c993357 At Large Tue, 08 Apr 2008 15:11:54 -0800 Comment by Bellevue Ave I stole a poster above a urinal advertising condos on lake michigan. the advertisement was hanging in the mexican place along 1st ave thats down a flight of stairs. talk about misplaced advert; why the fuck would anyone in Seattle Washington buy a condo in Wisconsin on Lake Michigan

]]> Bellevue Ave http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/04/ad_busted#c993441 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/04/ad_busted#c993441 At Large Tue, 08 Apr 2008 16:26:34 -0800 Comment by CP Never felt like writing on an airline tray table with a Sharpie marker... until now.

]]> CP http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/04/ad_busted#c993512 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/04/ad_busted#c993512 At Large Tue, 08 Apr 2008 17:25:09 -0800 Comment by CP And the money they make on selling that ad space, they invested in RFID chip luggage tags so that they luggage sorting/luggage finding process could become much closer to error-free?

Riiiiiiight. ; )

Okay, how about a free little bag of chips, then?

Eh, probably not that, either.

]]> CP http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/04/ad_busted#c993518 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/04/ad_busted#c993518 At Large Tue, 08 Apr 2008 17:28:47 -0800 Comment by Sheri The ad revenue will enable the airlines to compete for our business by lowering fares. The ones with ads will be in a stronger position to undercut the ones without ads. I'd rather pay less for a ticket and stare at an ad than pay more and have a blank tray, which is always smudged with the last passenger's meal anyway making it not so blank after all.

]]> Sheri http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/04/ad_busted#c993548 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/04/ad_busted#c993548 At Large Tue, 08 Apr 2008 18:21:17 -0800 Comment by ivan Orson @ 13:

Any damn fool can get Firefox for free and the Adblocker add-on for free. You don't ever have to look at ads online if you don't want to.

I sure don't, and why should I? I loathe advertising in all forms. If people like Sheri @ 23 want to look at ads, they can. But blocking online ads gets easier every day.

]]> ivan http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/04/ad_busted#c993643 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/04/ad_busted#c993643 At Large Wed, 09 Apr 2008 07:06:46 -0800 Comment by maegan Oh, Dan! I thought I was the only one who ordered seltzer on planes...that's hot.

]]> maegan http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/04/ad_busted#c993666 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/04/ad_busted#c993666 At Large Wed, 09 Apr 2008 09:11:11 -0800