Is the era of truly peaceful vacations over? One Redditor spotted "unskippable" ads during their recent South Florida vacation, ruining an otherwise quiet beach day.
The video, shared to the Anticonsumption subreddit, shows an aerial ad flying just off the shore with a giant QR code on it and the caption, "You can't adblock this."
Another ad shows an image of a woman holding a semi-automatic rifle, with the caption from Lock and Load Miami that read, "shoot machine guns."
"My vacation to Miami Beach is getting ruined by unskippable ads," the Redditor writes.
Not only are aerial ads like these disturbing to see, but because they're attached to planes, they contribute to pollution and negatively impact air quality, particularly in densely populated areas.
They also require the use of dirty energy sources that contribute to planet-heating gases during sourcing and production.
Aerial ad aircraft also create noise pollution, which can not only disrupt your quiet vacation, but it can also disturb wildlife and disrupt their normal behaviors.
"So this is gross and frustrating, but what's also bothering me — can you even scan a [QR] code while it's being flown through the sky like that? Also, I can't ad block you but you also can't force me to scan your stupid code," writes one Redditor.
They note that it's even "more frustrating" that it seems like they're "just trying to prove a point and being extremely wasteful in the meantime, but I take comfort in the fact that it's highly unlikely they see any return on investment for those ads."
"Not only did it ruin your vacation, it ruined my morning coffee," writes one Redditor. "Their marketing guy is a genius."
Another user summed it up in a single word: "Cringe."
Join our free newsletter for cool news and cool tips that make it easy to help yourself while helping the planet.
Cool Picks
