These are popping up all over. They were slightly annoying at wal-mart, but I expected as much from them. When they started showing up in Kroger and Publix a few months later they became downright absurd. The problem with the second wave is that some of them are not button-activated, but start blazing away whenever you walk by. I complained to the manager and he said that he was seriously considering taking them down since they weren't making him any more money and were only spawning a plethora of customer complaints like my own.

I have come here to buy tuna and kick ass...and they're all out of tuna.

what a waste of store resources.
and how annoying would it be to try to get past someone in the aisle watching that?
although some mother somewhere is saying 'great, i bet that would entertain my kid for a good minute and half, repeatedly pushing the button'

won't somebody think of the kittens?

And what makes the consumer watch this video? Is there some kind of force-field that restrains you until the commercial is over?

Just walk away. And don't buy the product.

i like how he says that the card "demands" him to push the button. there was no gun to his head.

also, if he wants recipes, the card says to go to the website.

i don't mind that there are screens that have an option to watch. if there were advertisements running on it consistantly, i might have a problem with that.

I've been trying to ram them with my shopping cart, but they're always up too high.

The power of the screen... the irresistible urge to push the button... Wow, Pavlov would be proud of us.

Nice to meet you. Bumblebee tuna! Bumblebee tuna! Excuse me. Your balls are showing! Bumblebee tuna!

I so wanted to gank one of these when I saw them last year, if only to make a video nametag.

@Gtmac: Now that I've gotten that out of my system...

As usual, the technology (which in this case has been around for some time) moves much faster than appropriate applications.

It's easier for advertisers to reuse what they already have produced for the TV than devise a novel use for the different ad location.

I like the OP's suggestions. From a creative perspective anyway. I still wouldn't want see them.

The flat-panel intrusion is getting out of hand. I stopped buying gas at a few local gas stations because they put up screens that blast REALLY loud advertisements at me while I'm trying to pump gas. No mute button, no discount on fuel for being subjected to the messages ultimately meant no more money from me.

The ad on the radio for Bumblebee is the most annoying ad ever. It goes like: "Bum bum bumblebee bumblebee tuna, I love bumblebee bumblebee bumblebee tuna" in a very lampooning voice. It has driven me away from trying that product.

I would be pissed, and would definitely walk away if I heard that on the small TV screen the OP mentioned. That said, no harm done with watching an ad for <30 seconds, and I am sure the OP could do without tuna recipes and such that are freely available on the internet...

Approves.

Tuna-rolled

I got your Bumblebee Tuna video.

@anithinks: I agree. I hate the version they play. I want to hear Memphiskapheles version!

"At least the damn thing isn't auto-play."

I just saw these popping up at Safeway last week. And I'm very sorry to break this to you, but these things definitely have the ability to auto-play.

I walked past one and it got my attention because it was playing some interstitial preview to the commercial on a low volume. Then I hit the button and the actual commercial played. I listened to it for about one second, slowly lost a little more of my sanity after realizing grocery stores are now putting video commercials at eye level, and moved on.

Hopefully these things test out to be a failed ad concept and in 6 months we'll forget all about them.

Free LCD screen. Yoink!

Is it a waste of resources? Yes.
Is it irritating? yes.

But nobody "tricked" him into pushing the button and nobody forced him to stand there and watch the commercial. Fuck, man. Just walk away! It's not that big a deal. By complaining about it, you've just allowed it to waste even more of your time.

I hate those plastic "billboard" things that stick out into the aisles. I end up knocking them down when passing people -- and don't bother to pick them up.

@angryneo: White Devil White Devil!

@angryneo: I always think of Ace Ventura when I think of Bumblebee Tuna. I think I may have to rent them again.

The bizarre part, IMO, is that they could do something cool with this. As the OP suggested, a 30-second demo on a recipe with tuna wouldn't be bad, but I would think marketing people could come up with something even better. For example, what if there was a short puzzle you had to solve to get a coupon code or something? They could easily use this tech to engage people instead of just piss them off.

(NB: Even the latter ideas would piss me off, and probably most consumerist readers, but you get where I'm going with this)

Kleenex did the same thing at my local grocery store! It was so annoying!

@catastrophegirl: Lol.. cute kitty. I usually take note of what my cats seem to focus on when I'm watching tv.. I'm still wondering why Bastien wants a Shark Steam Pocket Mop.

Maybe he thinks the Swiffer mop I have is inferior?

@squinko: Me too... Ahh childhood.

RE: "those plastic "billboard" things" and the little video screens posted about here:

They all seem to come from this marketing company:

[smartsourcemarketing.news.com.au]

They don't seem to have the video screens on their website yet, though, so maybe they're still testing those? A limited rollout perhaps?

I suggest that they're probably gathering numbers on what these things do to sales as we speak...and if a certain tech-savvy segment of the market simply walked away from the product every time they saw one of these...

Well then, their clients would see the dismal numbers and hesitate to invest in them.

@AbsoluteIrrelevance: Yet another reason to be happy to be abnormally short or tall: annoying things are seldom at eye level. Unless, of course, you're on the petite side and find children annoying.

@AbsoluteIrrelevance: Yes, there was an auto-play one at the Kroger I shop at a few months ago.. and it scared the crap out of me because it was SO LOUD. There was nothing you could do except run away.

People must have complained about it because I haven't seen another one like that since then.

@Kimaroo - No Stars Upon Thars: Unfortunately it's a way of the world. You can't escape advertising no matter how much you try.

@Kimaroo - No Stars Upon Thars: My cat has recently discovered the TV. Enjoys the little logos in the corner. Cute for the first 10 seconds, but now she is just in the way. Have to throw little crincly sparkle balls at her to make her move :)

MMmm tuna.

Ok this is getting silly i've seen similer devices in walmart not the iddy bitty type you got there but larger displays just spouting adverts

The annoying thing is the day i took notice of one it was adverting one product while being serounded by the competitor product (i thwacked it with the broom i was going to buy .. HARD. it stopped)

i'll snap one off the shelf one day and see how hackabul it is probably just uses a mmc card you can probly just replace whatever video file thy got in it with one of your own.

note the advert wasnt even an HOW TO USE infomershal just a tv add. i learned nothing and wanted my 2 minuts back in liquid cristal

@Cupajo: Amen.

@ElizabethD: If it said DON'T push the button, THEN I would push the button. :D

Signs, signs, everywhere there's signs
Blockin' up the scenery, breakin' my mind...

@DadsterNC: Agreed. It's got a sign over it with the brand name and logo, a button to push, and a screen. What was going to happen besides a commercial?
We have a few of these in our local grocery store, but they don't have buttons; they just play on endless loops and are very easy to walk past and ignore.

What did he think it was going to do? There's a placard with the Bumblebee Tuna logo right above the damn thing. It's not like the sign said "Press this button for free cupcakes and a puppy!".

With RFID, it really won't be long now until all of these screens, and a screen in your cart you cannot remove or shut up, will start nagging at you with the same auto check out voice micromanaging you doing THEIR work at checkout.

The voice will keep yelling the specials over and over, and if you pass a special without buying it, it will ask you if you are sure and why you didn't get the special, or if you bought a competing brand, why you brought that one and not Brand X.

Also, "intelligent" aisle displays will block your cart or toss an item at you if you pass without buying from it.

Further, security will further ask you when checking out why you picked up some items and returned them to the shelf. That is not allowed and there will be a restocking fee for that before leaving, sir. There will be an extra fee if the item was returned to the wrong spot on the shelf, and a mondo fee if you had the NERVE to put it in the wrong aisle.

Eventually they will try and gear it all to severely punish you for going to the store instead of internet ordering, and soon there will only be warehouses, no shoppers allowed in person, you will have to get everything over the internet and if they screw it up, oh well, wait on hold to talk to India about your soup and crackers and your cleaning supplies and they will fix the order in 4 to 6 weeks.

And also there will be RFID tags on all those items scannable not only in the store, but in the parking lot, in your car, and yes, in your home. I mean, come on, doesn't Tyson Chicken have a right to see an interactive map and thorough database of exactly who has each of their products post-purchase, with addresses and phone numbers? So that you can get 20 telemarketing calls after each trip asking why you did and didn't buy x, y and z instead and giving you "offers" for the next trip?

I realize people will laugh reading this but I'd bet money we will all see it and be subjected to these or similar things in the next five years.

You see, you really have no consumer rights. Marketers and consultants are redesigning your daily shopping life without your permission in corporate boardrooms as we speak so you are more "profitable" for corps, less of a bother, and more micromanaged and controlled to shop "correctly" in the way they see fit. Don't like it? Stay at home and starve or go drive thru and delivery 24/7. We should have seen all this coming when each piece of fresh produce got bar scan stickers.

I would go on about how you will be micromanaged and micromeasured in your chair at work with calculations about "productive time", but that's for another post :)

@Kimaroo - No Stars Upon Thars: that was the first time i ever turned the tv on in front of him. he sat there and watched it for about an hour. it was great.

@FatLynn:
I agree--now that they've gone to the expense and effort of installing these things, they should go the extra step and actually provide a perceived value to the shopper. In my view, an opt-in commercial with some kind of bonus (coupon, recipe, contest entry, whatever) would be a plus inasmuch as it's right there where you shop for it. A plain old commercial? what's the point?

@h3llc4t has a slow work day:

Well, lots osupermarkets have those print-on-demand coupons right in the aisle; why couldn't this be both? In fact, I think it should be made to do both.

@Areyouagoodlittleconsumer: Oh yeah and sorry can't purchase anything without your real (they will make you prove it) phone number in the system for the telemarketing calls and nope no opt out for that if you want to shop at the store.

I'm seeing these auto-play things at a gas station. Except it showed "NBC at the Pump" and I got an office clip.

It was disturbing yet oddly transfixing and, I suppose, better than standing there whistling and avoiding fumes.

But at the same time, I don't need to be entertained or bombarded with ads every minute of every day. I already fear my brain is being conditioned to hurry up and go faster, as evidenced by me having to say "OK, slow down" when I open up a book.

@dragonfire81: carry wire cutters?

@Cupajo: It'd be more of a trick if it said "Do not push" in big red letters.

@FooSchnickens - Forklift Dirver Extraordinaire: If you think that's annoying and absurd, consider this:

Samsung is developing a screen technology called AM-OLED, which is basically an OLED screen (the next 'step' after LCD), but super thin and flexible. Basically, they're for portable devices so they never crack or shatter. All kinds of screens are only getting cheaper, too.

Eventually, all magazines and newspapers (if there are any left) will feature video ads. In fact, there was one limited-run issue of a magazine with an LCD screen in it not long ago.

After that, they'll start getting used in packaging. Every box and every label in the whole grocery store will be a video advertisement. All of it, collectively bombarding customers in bright colors and dancing mascots from every spot on every shelf.

Now that would be annoying and absurd.

@AbsoluteIrrelevance: There's an audio version of this at Long's/CVS: "I'm your helpful computer friend. Are you looking for something to buy?" and it just goes on and on. I mostly feel sorry for the employees. Almost as bad as the incessant beeping from the UPC scanner and the ATM pad.

@dragonfire81: You can move to another country. You're not pursued as much as in the US.

@DadsterNC: Do you have a problem with the OP describing his experiences for the rest of us so we know to avoid those things? Cause otherwise I don't understand your point.