I’ve been meaning to write this article for a long, long time. When it comes to transportation in Shanghai, what options do we really have?
x Walk. I love walking, but it’s not always the fastest way to go from A to B, especially if you are unfortunate enough to go to Pudong.
x Bike. Have you seen my logo? Do I look like a bicycle person ? Not really, and frankly the way people drive around here does not make me want to become one.
x Scooter/Motorbike. As much as I enjoy the fact that nobody will arrest you if you’re not wearing a hammer, it’s not safe for anyone. I do love Vespas though, so I might think about it.
x Bus. It might come as a shocker, but I took the bus several times in Shanghai. At night when it’s empty it’s not so bad if you don’t miss your station.
x Subway. I don’t even know where is the nearest station from where I live.
x Cab. Probably the most used transport way, as most of us lazy foreigners don’t own a car here.
There come the Taxi Ads. I believe one day, a Madman took a cab and thought :
“Wow, look at how many people use cabs everyday..If we could find a way to exploit it…Eureka! Let’s put video screens in cabs. People will have no choice but watch it. Let’s make the turn off button very, very small and inconvenient. Hm, no actually, let’s take it off. Brilliant!”
Intrusive? I admit I have touched the screen a couple times when stuck in traffic ; my ipod was out of battery and none of my friends would answer their phones – bored, yes. But I was even more bored after I discovered most games or videos are not very entertaining – it’s all about product review and flat description. Cool…
But it must work obviously, because I also have very clear images in my mind of Josh Hartnett for the latest Armani perfume and I’m glad to know Barbie gives cooking class. So I would say this is effective for a brand/product awareness.
Wait. What kind of awareness ? This kind of branding might be sticky for sure, but does it give a good, positive feeling? If I’d be spending between 120 000 rmb-250 000 rmb/month for running my little video in 1000 cabs, I’d appreciate some sympathy.
My point : when advertising is ready switch to an inclusive – not seclusive, marketing, and move from “me me me” to “you” and “us”, then maybe we’ll have some real experience and won’t feel like white mouses under some experiment.
Until then, when I take a cab, first thing I do is switch off the screen – or turn off the sound.
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What I hate most is that also the driver cannot turn it off.
and often, it is very loud !!
Hi, I’m kind of new here, just discovered this place from Si Mao Savait, looks like a very interesting website; got it in my favorites
Taxi screen ads are indeed so annoying. I don’t use taxi a lot but every time I turn it off also. Not so annoyed by the ads it selves but more by the general brainwashing it generates. We are easy people, our eyes are easily directed to something shining, once our attention is captured, we’ll stick on it.
Its first function is advertising but I think it also goes into the general maintaining people in a lethargic condition system in China. What is great about taxis is that you can free yourself and enjoy a good ride, take time to look out the window, discover new neighborhoods. Just give ourselves a little bit of dream and escape for a while.
Also taxis are great because we can always meet very nice drivers. I’m used to talk to drivers for ages and most of them are just too glad to have someone to talk to and getting them out of their routine. So taxis rides are also about socializing and remembering that in a society like Shanghai, foreign people are still willing to talk to each other and that life is not only about living in a world of computer offices, television at home and Face book before going to bed. (It looks close to the message Pixar used for human condition in Wall-E)
Watching some Chinese going to work in the morning, both eyes on the little screen, reminds me that brainwashing is strong here and that people are globally open to the concept. It may look like brainwashing for us but looks like normal evolution for them.
More than only ads, the policy of screens everywhere, subway, taxis and buses is also a tool to keep population lethargic, IMO that’s the most dramatic part of it.