They Can't, They Won't, and They Don't Stop


As if controlling three quarters of a million outdoor advertising spaces and over 1,200 radio stations wasn't enough for Clear Channel, they want to own space inside your car. As an article on "A New Form of Radio Marketing" in the New York Times is reporting, Clear Channel and Infinity Broadcasting are developing techniques to push advertisements on to car radio displays. The scrolling LCDs were designed to carry information about the names of the artists, songs, and albums. But by co-opting this feature in car radios, the stations are hoping to catch a captive audience where they simply don't have the option of turning it off. Drivers will likely react as well to this invasion of their personal space as they did to the video screens in NYC taxis. Or, as Steve McKee said, "just because you can advertise somewhere doesn't mean you should." Actually, in some places you just shouldn't.