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Definitely welcome news to our ears, eyes and headspaces - the televisions streaming constant looping advertisements in the back of Shanghai's taxis are thankfully on the out.
Was there ever any question that the inescapable video ads in Shanghai's taxis were of utmost annoyance? With each journey as the meter started, so did the irritating commercials. In a city that constantly bombards its inhabitants with multiple stimuli, what was possibly once an advertising marvel, has now been added to the long list of advertising nuisances.
Well it seems that all our complaints have been heard.
With World Expo 2010 just over a year away, the government is working through its list of things to change and upgrade for the impending arrival of an expected 70 million visitors.
As of this month, the touch screens will be phased out following new government regulations that aim to address visual and audio pollution across Shanghai.
Taxis will now have restrictions on what advertising can be displayed inside the cabs, with respective penalties if they fail to comply. By the end of the year, touch screens still under contract will have controls to enable passengers to turn off the video and the screens will be secured to ensure the safety of commuters.
The decision to include backseat mindclutter as a part of the World Expo renovations will be a delightful change for frequent users of Shanghai's taxis service.
Assuming, of course, that the distraction is not desired. As passengers in this city, sometimes its nice to keep our eyes within the taxi or dead ahead, refraining from looking left or right for fear of a near death experience or worse. The mindless repetitive chirping might be a missed distraction for those less comfortable addressing their immediate mortality.
Also on Shanghaiist:Shanghai may regulate annoying taxi ads over visual, audio pollution
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Way to cheer on totalitarian government you twits. What the hell right should a government have to decide the interior of a taxi owned by a company which customers are free to NOT RIDE if they find the conditions unacceptable? Any DECENT human being deserving to live to tomorrow should oppose this on principle. ONE POINT FOR TOTALITARIANISM. I hope they next announce arbitrarily banning YOUR LIFE, or YOUR FAVORITE THING.
Oh man, your life/favorite thing was annoying ads that can't be turned off in cabs? God, I'd laugh at you but I feel too sorry for you.
Twit is an excellent insult; I must use it more often.
Hooray for totalitarianism, good to see an offical body striking back against the relentless invasion of public and private spaces alike with endless amounts of commercial propaganda.
I liked the ads ans so did many of my local friends! govt needs to butt out..geesh if customers dont like them dont take them or all they had to do is turn it off...ass&^*&e. I especially loved the panda one :)
But were they installed in a top-down sweep, or with feedback from taxi riders? Certainly advertisers salivated at having their captive audience. Would a company like this ever take flight in the Western world, or would people get too pissed? I do feel sympathetic to folks working at Touch Media that spent several years building/installing these platforms and may now have to switch to static print ads, but I can't seem to think that these, along with the boat ads on the Huangpu, along with those brighter-than-the-sun LCDs, along with Focus Media's Videozak, along with all those other "new media" companies, are just parts of this land grab predicated on the sad fact that consumers here have almost no voice at all. Also, I think the argument that there's a choice to ride in another taxi is a false one -- what taxi companies had these things? It always seemed to me that it was random, and that I didn't notice the blaring screen until I was already well on my way. "Oh,no, one of these."
Making these opt-out showed little respect for the riders. If it were opt-in, it might be a different story, but the charges to advertisers would undoubtedly have to change, perhaps even by two or three orders of magnitude to reflect the click-thru-rate.
Oops, I meant to say I think it's part of land grab
I find the shops that have the purple and white megaphones hanging outside to be more annoying than turning off the taxi advertisements. Especially if they're located next to a shop that sets speakers out front blasting pop music. Standing at my local bus stop is deafening.
Could some nice government person do something about the speakers on poles outside my apartment that were blasting a Chinese woman speaking at 8:00 am this morning for 45 minutes? My Chinese friends say that it was warning me of fire or thieves, but I only saw old people doing tai chi...is this only at my apartment?