Coming Soon to a Metro near you
July 16, 2005
Posted by jkhat at July 16, 2005 11:00 PM
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Metro cars all have a few small (think poster-sized) ads on the interior. This is the first one that I've seen with an ad on the exterior. And not only is there an ad on the exterior, but the ad is the exterior.
I don't like it one bit.
Posted by jkhat at July 16, 2005 11:00 PM
The trackback entry for this page is : http://www.inthehat.com/mt/mt-tb.cgi/990
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Comments
| # July 17th, 2005 10:29 AM kris |
| Why don't you like it? Wouldn't you rather have the Metro subsidized by some advertising rather than by taxpayers? |
| # July 17th, 2005 11:22 AM james |
| 1) it's ugly
2) there are already ads on the inside of the metro. turning the metro into a moving billboard is quite another thing. 3) on your rationale, maybe we should sell the naming rights to the white house, just to save a few bucks? or maybe we should let companies paint ads on the side of the washington monument? or heck, im sure that porn ads pay much more, so why not paint porn ads on the side? after all, under your rationale, people should put up with anything at all just to save a few bucks. how about putting a porn ad on the side of your car, kris? i fully support the metro not getting any tax dollars whatsoever - the amount charged for fares should fully cover operating costs. that way metro wouldnt constantly be whining about how they arent getting enough funding. and that way property owners wouldnt be fleecing the people of hundreds of millions just because they happen to own property near a subsidized transport point. until the metro becomes fully self-sufficient, all of the money thrown at it might as well be thrown down an unknown and bottomless pit. money raised from adverstising will do nothing to help lower the cost to the consumer of a business that doesnt have to compete for your business or make ends meet - it will only allow them to spend more money on other things, further inflating the cost of the publicly funded boondoggle. |
| # July 17th, 2005 11:41 AM kris |
| yes, you're right. Putting ads on an underground subway is EXACTLY the same as putting them on national monuments. |
| # July 17th, 2005 11:50 AM james |
| 1) most of the metro isnt underground. most of it, BY FAR, is above ground. it's only underground downtown.
[EDIT: i looked this up, apparently it isnt "BY FAR" above gorund. it's more like 50-50, they say.] 2) both are funded by tax dollars. what's the difference? the issues are a. public works projects, funded by tax dollars, being covered in commercial speech. b. signage and billboards polluting the visual image of the town. cities have the authority to restrict, even outright ban, billboard advertising. it's a huge conflict of interest for a city to be selling ad space, even if they don't ban the billboards. if im a resident of the chinatown neighborhood and a couple huge private billboards go up, i can petition the city council to have them removed. how impartial can the city be in deciding that issue when they're dependent on the advertising revenue themselves? when it comes down to deciding whether to be known as "the guy who raised metro fares because he wouldn't allow the billboards," what do you think politicians will do? the city has no business selling advertisments. |
| # July 17th, 2005 11:53 AM kris |
| if that's your stance, then you should have explained that you ALSO object to the small ads inside the Metro, otherwise it sounded like you were just complaining because the outside ads were ugly |
| # July 17th, 2005 12:00 PM james |
| i dont "ALSO" object to the small ads inside the metro.
billboard v. interior ad is a completely different issue. it's very argumentative of you to charge in and tell someone what they "should have explained." i have no duty to explain anything to you, and my position is entirely consistent without any such explanation |
| # July 17th, 2005 12:02 PM james |
| i really dont see where you get off - i write huge comments explaining things, you write a sentence just making flip comments. yet you htell me that i should be "explaining" things more. |
| # July 17th, 2005 12:09 PM kris |
| You said that the city has no business selling advertisements. So, I would assume that means you believe that they have no business selling interior or exterior advertisements on the Metro. If they shouldn't be selling ads period, then I don't get why you'd object to one but not the other.
As far as argumentativeness goes. I ask why this bugs you, when I *know* that the financing of the Metro bugs you, and you come back with a comment that claims that due to my "rationale" (what rationale? I expressed nothing) I should support porn advertising on national monuments or something. I don't even really care about any of this, I was frankly just curious as to why you'd think the way you did. |
| # July 18th, 2005 12:20 AM Daddy |
| This has been going on in L.A. for years. Whenever there's 1) a blockbuster, or 2) a total bomb that needs all the hype it can get....the WHOLE BUS gets covered in a billboard. Even the windows.
The one time I violently objected to advertising was when baseball considered putting Spiderman ads ON THE BASES. Remember that crap? Covering up the buses--eh. At least when they do the windows, I don't have to look at the loser liberals inside. |
| # July 18th, 2005 8:23 AM countertop |
| First, what line was this on? I haven't seen one yet.
Second, I am thrilled that they have finally gotten off their asses on this issue - I've been harping to the District for years that they should be running much more advertising. Sure, this one sucks - but the example I used to point out where all the fine and entertaining and gorgous ads that the Brits would run in their stations. Its taken awhile, but maybe Metro is finally waking up to reality. |
| # July 18th, 2005 8:33 AM james |
| this one is red line, i saw it at judiciary square on saturday
what sort of brit ads are you talking about? |
| # July 18th, 2005 10:32 PM countertop |
| In the London Underground the quality of the print advertising hanging in the stations (both within the tubes leading to the platform as well as on the platform and most especially the giant ads across the tracks from the platform) is outstanding.
Here is a whole web page devoted to it. Or go here or, just search the web for pictures of the best of the underground ads |
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