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.

Related articles

City to silence taxi video ads

Annoying Taxi Ads on the Move?