As if excessive advertising didn't already promote overconsumption of resources enough, this recent post to r/nycrail shares an ad campaign that overconsumes resources itself.
The original poster shared a single infuriating image:
The image is of Moynihan Train Hall at Penn Station in New York City. It shows a number of digital display boards with abstract art on them. Apparently, the images shift to ads regularly because the post title reads, "These screens could have displayed train arrival boards, but they just display ads and whatever this [is]."
The OP makes a great point. Train stations are already stressful enough to navigate, especially New York City ones. Do they really have to make things more stressful by choosing to drown travelers in ads rather than pertinent information?
Of course, there are arrival boards in Moynihan Train Hall. But this dedicated ad space is pretty much the perfect spot to display that info prominently. Why waste space, energy, and paying customers' time with glowing distractions? The answer, as you've likely surmised, is money.
Excessive ads have long been a point of societal contention, but it seems they're getting worse by the day.
Companies are now even outfitting moving vehicles with glaring digital ads. In America, the three largest contributors to planet-warming emissions are transportation, electric power, and industry, per the Environmental Protection Agency. These roving marketing machines combine all three into one ecological nightmare.
If you want to counteract the questionable practices of these irresponsible advertisers, there are a few things you can do. Using public transit is one of them — if you can deal with eye-burning ads like the ones in this post, that is. You can also shop secondhand, grow your own food, or upgrade to an EV. All of these things will help reduce your contribution to the overconsumption these ads promote.
Commenters related to the OP's disgust.
"Everything in this country exists to extract money from people's pockets. Ads, products, this app, everything. Why would this train station be any different?" one wrote.
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Definitely 👍 "This station is so frustrating. The signs are so small and not at all in convenient spots on top of being super late to update," another stated.
"Their clientele must be people with apps," another opined. "That's effing annoying. I use a cell to call and text."
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