If Google has AdSense, let’s just call this NonSense. A new advertising campaign for people-what-make-cars Alfo Romeo is (we desperately hope) not the future of advertising, as you’ll doubtlessly agree by watching this video.
‘There’s no getting away from an offer this good’ proclaims a motorized billboard, as it chooses unwitting pedestrians and gives chase, urging them to purchase a car. I can’t imagine this is the best way to sell cars – and obviously, this video was created with humour in mind – but still, there’s a deeper concern here.
Given the pervasion of advertising in our everyday lives as is, and the never-ending quest of advertisers to fill our every sight and sound with spam, I can’t imagine some enterprising ad exec is going to see this video and begin aggressively pushing for robots that stand at crowded intersections yelling about… I dunno, toothpaste, or something the average Joe would be a little more inclined to buy than a car, anyway.
Everyone always jokes about robots overthrowing humanity – maybe it won’t be so bad. They’ll probably just want to sell us goods and services when they do.
If a sign were in front of me moving back and forth and blocking my path, I would first believe it was one of those candid camera pranks. When I noticed it wasn’t a prank, I guarantee you that I would kick that thing with the intention of breaking it.