Adding Ads
As a young man I read a science fiction story about a future world where advertising was the predominant feature of society. Everywhere you looked, advertising was looking back at you, and it was so effective that half the people on earth were impoverished because they bought more than they could afford. Oh how I loved reading about the crackpot ideas those early science fiction writers came up with. However when that science fiction story was first published I could put all my belongings on my back and hike out, whereas today I need a 2700 square foot house just to contain my personal belongings, then there are those little toys outside the house that EVERY American NEEDS! Then there is all that stuff at my other house — not that advertising had anything to do with any of my purchases, of course.
Oh sure, any time I have seen one of those wonderful, colorful, exciting ads displayed on the side panels of U-Haul trucks I want to get close enough to see what destination is now being featured. Many times I even go there, not that the U-Haul advertising had anything to do with that decision either. Even though the last 5 times I moved bag and baggage I did lease the biggest and best that U-Haul offered, however I guarantee that decision was always reached AFTER a thorough investigation of the merits of U-Haul’s current competition.
Today I realize that Life is a Bummer — without good advertising to revel in.
My love affair with good advertising began long, long ago in a galaxy far, far away, in fact I wasn’t even born yet — but I do like to start a story out at its very beginning. One of the first (of many) peculiarities ascribed to me was that even as a child I loved hearing about Quaker Puffed Wheat and Quaker Puffed Rice, the cereals shot from guns — but in my own defense I must add that was only if we got right back to Sergeant Preston of the Yukon and his lead dog King.
Nevertheless, for many years now I have noticed that I prefer watching the commercials to watching the shows provided on the television sets of friends, and I’m still not particularly impoverished like some people I know that can’t even stand the commercials. Many times I have wondered if they have spent 92% of their spendable income on these little gadgets that zap commercials into next week. There must be a moral there somewhere.
Feeble-minded souls of that other preference will be shocked to learn that there is a growing trend towards plastering cheap airline cabin walls with advertising. I think that the original idea was just to slow the drafts down a little bit, but you know how these things grow on you, like bill boards sprouting up alongside a new freeway. Today these onboard ancillary ads generate about $20 million a year.
Make SURE your family has all
the insurance protection it needs.
Compare what you have to pay now
with the family-friendly values we find.
See for yourself if your savings don’t
average 46% better than what you expect.
Now that they are getting paid to plaster these ads on cabin walls you can bet they aren’t going away any time soon. In fact, Terry Trippler, an aviation consultant who runs the travel advisory website tripplertravel.com — one of MY competitors — has recently been quoted as saying: “I could picture an airplane looking like a NASCAR,”
Uh, you should know what a NASCAR is even if you don’t like advertising. It’s one of those racing stock cars that are smothered with so many different logos from sponsors that you can look for ten years before realizing there is a car under there somewhere.
Some descendant of an early day science fiction writer said: “It’s not out of the question that we may one day see a Target logo on the nose” of airplanes coming in for a landing at an airport near you, packed with consumers yearning for the next big sale.
Plastering the cabin walls with cheap advertising — wait a minute, I got that wrong. — Plastering the cheap airline’s cabin walls with advertising has proven to be so profitable that now cheap airline cabins are also sprouting ads on tray tables and on cocktail napkins.
This may be a step too far gone. Skybus Airlines, which only coincidentally went out of business this year, even sold space on the uniforms of its flight attendants. What probably killed the company off (in my humble opinion) was that It was also decorating the outside of its planes with (non Target) ads.
U-Haul type advertising on the outside is a long shot different than being locked up for six hours inside a cheap airline cabin with wall to wall advertising while on a transcontinental airplane ride. I can just imagine petty suspicions exploding on every side of the aisle with every unavoidable delay. “They are going to keep us in here until we buy something!”
But no,,, Spokeswoman for Spirit Airlines Inc., a low-cost carrier based in Miramar, Fla. — Misty Pinson — has flown out of her way to say: “They (customers of the company) say that if this is a way to keep airfares low, they’re all for it.” She added: “Passengers that fly with Spirit have come to love the low fares we offer, and this is a way to offer those fares in tough economic times,”
So there you have proof of how well good advertising works: “CHEAP” advertising beats “TOUGH” economic times, even in the REAL world invented by an early day science fiction writer.