Shanghaiist: Visual & audio pollution on the out in Shanghai taxis

brett_ashley

Thu, 09 Apr 2009 12:26:03 +0700

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?

EL JEFE

Thu, 09 Apr 2009 06:37:41 +0700

Oops, I meant to say I think it's part of land grab

EL JEFE

Thu, 09 Apr 2009 06:36:09 +0700

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.

liliac

Wed, 08 Apr 2009 22:48:40 +0700

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 :)

Cammy

Wed, 08 Apr 2009 21:18:12 +0700

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.

moneyinabox

Wed, 08 Apr 2009 19:27:52 +0700

Twit is an excellent insult; I must use it more often.

quantumcooney

Wed, 08 Apr 2009 17:40:57 +0700

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.

parasitius

Wed, 08 Apr 2009 17:22:47 +0700

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.