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City Weekend brings us murmurs that the Shanghai government may soon crack down on those taxi televisions that broadcast ads nonstop (with nary an off button in sight). Declarations by the local government and officials from the World Expo Environment Improvement campaign hinted that taxi commercials could fall into the category of visual and audio pollution.
Touchmedia, the company responsible for the panels, is currently working with five of the big six taxi companies in the city. When asked about the possible regulations, they told the magazine, "We have fully censorship-trained in-house staff, and we're fanatical about vetting our advertisements."
Miss the point much? We think inappropriate content is probably pretty low on the list of problems the general public has with the ads. "If I have to look at vapid models extolling the virtues of the latest H&M collection one more time, I think I'm going to blow my brains out," is most likely a little closer to the top.
Even better, Touchmedia CEO Micky Fung insisted that "An independent study found that 92 percent of the passengers interact with the unit, and more often than not, people enjoy the commercials." How many of those 92 percent interacting with the unit were muting it, do you think?
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I always play "crash the screen": Try touching with multiple fingers multiple buttons at the same time. Worked a couple of times so far.
If you're at all motivated to "interact with the unit," I've found that a few good hard twists to the cord is a great way to turn the things off. Just wait for the crunchy "snap" sound and enjoy the lack of fanatically vetted advertisements.
You also have a plug to unplug in a lot of case,
follow the whire behind the seat, you will find a connector to unscrew. Done!
Another way more destructive: The use of a lighter,... a very strong pression with sharp object... or change cab if possible.
Up until recently I hadn't really even noticed the ads that much. Until they came up to a Charity organization I work with and offered a free spot for us. No catches, no gimmicks, simply a free ad for the charity. Maybe, just maybe, if you do look at it, you'll see what that charity is, and we hope that you do see our little spot coming up on those touch screens.
As someone who runs a charity too, I'm glad you're getting advertising space somewhere and wish you the best of luck in your endeavor.
As a person who's sick of watching terrible make up commercials every time she turns her head to not look out the window though, I'm going to try that cord twisting thing.
I use a kaiser blade, some people call it a sling blade, I call it a kaiser blade
Come on, it is not that bad...I like the games...lol.....