Branded Cars are Dangerous!
Last night I was driving home and in my way (for around 10 minutes on the same direction than me) I encountered one of those 
branded cars. I actually can’t remember the brand (as to which I doubt the efficiency of the medium).
What was interesting to see was how three cars (I totally counted them) almost got themselves into an accident by staring at the car, in a matter of under two minutes. Perhaps it’s their bad driving skills, or the bumpy road, but its curious it actually happened while the three drivers seemed to be “hypnotized” by the car! As soon as I saw that I drove myself away from that silly thing back into safety.
I can’t believe how many people actually get distracted with outdoor advertising. Whether it’s a branded car, a moving ad on a bus, or just a plain old-fashioned poster ad, many people seem to take too much time and attention (while they shouldn’t- because they’re driving) to get a glimpse. How dangerous…and scary!
To what point should advertisers be responsible of where and how they are communicating their messages, when safety might be an issue? Please leave your opinions via comments.
PS- The car I saw wasn’t a red-bull one, the picture is just to illustrate my point. Cheers.
Yes – they are dangerous. How about that Coca-Cola Christmas One? I mean it is beautiful, but quite distracting from the road.
The issue reminds me of the idea’s in Seth Godin’s book “Purple Cow”. The main point of the book is “differentiate or die.” I totally agree that your assessment of auto-advertising can be distracting to the point of impaired safety BUT how will people react to these automobiles when 1 out of 3 cars look like this? Like other marketing mediums, the cars will become like wallpaper … it’s there but you really don’t “see” it. At that point, the marketers move on to another differentiating medium.
Although we may all agree that this is a safety issue, it’s probably not a realistic expectation to have marketers take responsibility for their actions. They likely won’t.
Until things change let’s all keep our eyes on the road! So maybe I won’t be putting a big squirrel head on my mini-cooper… hrrmmph ;-)