"Would you like your 10 gallons of gas with burgers and fries, shrimp cocktail, or perhaps a Greek salad?"
If that sounds like an utterly bizarre situation, it is, unfortunately, 100% real, as a Redditor on the r/anticonsumption subreddit shared.
In the GIF, they're pumping gas while a small screen above the fuel button cycles through food items rapidly in an eye-catching fashion. Their title mentioned that their regular gas station made the switch from the usual pumps to these new vessels for food ads.
The subreddit had some quick fixes to this distracting and unnecessary example of advertisements gone too far.
"A bit of black tape will fix that right up," a viewer offered.
Another user sided with that less destructive choice over their initial idea: "I was thinking a rock would do the trick, but your idea would probably get someone into less trouble than smashing the screen outright. Good call."
While this seems like a small example, in a literal sense, it's part of a larger problem of advertising sprouting everywhere in increasingly obnoxious and unavoidable ways.
Some trucks have become literal moving and flashing advertisements on the road, posing a hazard for drivers. Gas stations have been spotted blocking out the products in cooler shelves to promote … other products. A trip to the beach now frequently comes with advertisements spoiling the view and the vibes. Social media is becoming increasingly ad-dominated.
In this case, maybe the advertisement pushes drivers to an indulgent food purchase of a burger that they don't really want or need. Zooming out, though, studies have shown that more advertisements make us more unhappy. They also cause us to load up on things we might not need and food we don't need to eat. Outdoor fast food ads, for one, are linked to higher obesity rates. Having too much stuff, meanwhile, can inevitably result in more trash that ends up in methane-producing landfills.
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For sure 👍 Redditors shared their experiences with ad-riddled pumps.
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"They've been advertising on the pumps themselves, with attached video screens, for years," one pointed out. "Guess they just realized they missed a spot."
A change at another visitor's gas station was equally disturbing: "My regular gas station had regular screens for years, but recently they started playing ads while you're pumping...the sound comes through these awful tinny speakers, it grates on my soul."
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