On airport advertising
Via Eric Rescorla [link to http://www.educatedguesswork.org/movabletype/archives/2007/01/airport_securit_2.html no longer works], who has insightful comments, and Boingboing [link to http://www.boingboing.net/2007/01/06/ads_on_bins_will_boo.html no longer works], we learn that “TSA Pilot Would Offer Ads at Airport Security Checkpoints.” [link to http://aviationnow.com/avnow/news/channel_comm_story.jsp?id=news/ADS01047.xml no longer works]
A few chaotic comments:
- What authority does TSA have to sell advertising? Isn’t Congress supposed to fund their operations? The advertisers will “who will provide divestiture bins, divestiture and composure tables, and metal-free bin return carts at no cost to TSA.”
- What company wants to be associated with treating the public like that? (Obvious answer: the cell phone companies, maybe the credit agencies, and used car salesmen.)
- Will they accept advertising from the ACLU saying “Tired of intrusive searches? Please donate!”
- How about the Libertarian party?
- If this is acceptable, what level of advertising isn’t acceptable? Can Allstate fund police cars?
Photo, less tasteless than this proposal, is a RyanAir ad, which we covered in “New airport security procedures.”
[Update: new picture.]
You’re about four years late on the advertising-on-cop-cars thing:
http://www.csmonitor.com/2002/1003/p01s01-ussc.html
Orv: You make me so glad I’m not a science fiction writer. (With apologies to Vinge.)
It’s already going on. At LAX the X-ray bins have had advertisements for Rolodex on the bottom for about a year. I complained about this loudly, and was told it was because they donated them.