CBS Coming to the Produce Aisle

smooth wombat writes "In the continuing struggle to capture viewers, CBS is pairing with SignStorey Inc. to provide short-form programming designed specifically for shoppers on topics such as health, nutrition, as well as short news and sports items and entertainment. This programming will be displayed on video screens in the produce and deli sections of 1,300 supermarkets nationwide. Virginia Cargill, the CEO of SignStorey, said CBS will provide 1-2 minutes of programming for each video loop that appears on the in-store monitors. Each loop consists of about 8 minutes, half of which is advertising."

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Great. Now it gets worse.

[TimeTrav]

This will probably encourage the trend of people listening to music or talking on the phone *all the time*, in this case just so they don't have to hear the advertisements. I fail to see how this could be successful.

So what?

[cartel]

Seriously, who cares? Nobody really watches those screens anyway.

It's already at the gas station

[Animats]

Two gas stations near me now have 17 inch flat-panel displays near each gas pump, running news and ads. With loud audio. It's so annoying that I switched gas stations.

Ok

[cubicledrone]

This may come as a shock to middle management, but people don't want to watch commercials. The supermarket is already a clogged toilet of happy-talk announcer voices, video screens, blaring signs, surveillance cameras, one cashier for 15 customers and constant harping about signing over your credit profile to avoid being charged penalties of up to 75% on food.

The last thing people want to see is some blow-dried "my voice is smiling" asshole reading a 30-second factoid from a teleprompter while people try to find a box of breakfast cereal that doesn't annihilate a $10 bill.

Unplug the fucking televisions. At least give people the dignity of being ripped off in peace.

Re:Horrible.

[Otter]

And it'll probably be like the airport, where you have CNN blaring and Muzak playing simultaneously, while everyone shouts into their cell phones that much louder...

Advertising continues to evolve

[dada21]

I'm not a huge fan of advertising because I hate paying increased prices for products -- I tend to buy generic if the quality is close (or I just make dinner from scratch). Yet advertising is a huge portion of the economy, and if the old media formats don't work, the companies have to evolve.

I actually like this form of advertising IF it gives me some interesting information. If it is the same 4 minute segment run over months, I'll ignore it and it will likely fail. If they give me something interesting to do with produce, I can actually see it working.

"Buying onions? Try them with Hamburger Helper for a delicious meal for the family!" isn't going to get me to buy packaged junk. But if they combine it with an interesting recipe (or fact) about the onion, I may just stick around to watch it.

For those anti-advertising in general, remember that much of the old media that you might have loved (think: Firefly, Futurama, etc) may have died because advertisers wouldn't pay for it -- and we never had the chance to ourselves. Don't knock advertising until you understand how forcing millions to pay a nickel more for a product might be better than asking a few tens of thousands of media users to pay $5 each.

Then again, the iTunes format may destroy TV and radio anyway. I guess CBS is seeing the forest for the trees.

Advice for CBS

[stlhawkeye]

CBS's entire network is an utter disaster except for their sports division. Their news desk has been shamed and discredited, their mainstream programming is garbage. CBS Sports is a competant division with some decent sports journalists. The rest of the network is garbage. I'm sure there's some redeeming shows that some of you watch but I can't remember the last I time I even noticed CBS except when it was in the news for various journalistic integrity scandals.

Re:Horrible.

[thrillseeker]

I feel bad for the poor produce section workers that have to listen to the same 8-minute loop for 8 hours a day.

I think this might be actionable as the audio equivalent of the chinese water torture. Repetition ad nauseum is a viable torture technique.

Re:ads ads everywhere

[zxnos]

amen, could it be, that people are harder to reach becuase they dont want to be bombarded constantly? when it becomes too much, people ignore it instinctively.

i didnt realize google had ads in gmail until someone mentioned it here. every slashdot story has an add when you go to read comments. i have no clue what they are selling. when a webiste asked me to look at an ad before reading a story, i go to another site. i glazed over the parts of articles that are ads becuase the format changes. i could go on...

TV-B-Gone

[kjfitz]

Looks like it is finally time to break down and get one of these [tvbgone.com].

Re:Horrible.

[thrillseeker]

You remind me of the guy on the freeway who gets right behind you and flashes his lights.

Why would anyone flash his lights, since all intelligent people know not to block the passing lane?

not just half

[brre]

half of it will be advertising

No, all of it will be advertising.

Consider a magazine with exactly one advertiser, entirely supported by that advertiser's dollars. These do exist. The "articles" are little different from the ads. The material identified as ads is at least presented honestly as persuasion, not information. The material identifed as articles is misrepresented as information when in fact it is persuasion.

Take a look at the helpful health video running in the waiting room at your eye doctor, dentist, etc. Same deal. They're not blurring the line, they're obliterating the line between advertising and information.

It will be no different in the supermarket. What advertising insiders call "short form programming" you will call ads. If the entire video was identified as ads, it would at least be presented as what it is. But it won't be; half of it will be passed off as "information".

The result will be not just intrusive and annoying, it will be dishonest and misleading.

Re:Horrible.

[wealthychef]

My point is that when somebody appears "less intelligent" than you, by which I presume you mean they drive differently, instead of getting angry, you can simply be a bit more patient. Of course it is good manners to pull over for people in a hurry, but it's also bad manners to rush around without any consideration for others. And little old ladies deserve a bit of respect in a supermarket, don't they? Instead of pushing their cart aside, how about smiling and asking them if you can pass by?

Re:ads ads everywhere

[An ominous Cow art]

That's one of the quotes which makes me despise these marketing/advertising people even more. You can see their attitude in their choice of words. It isn't "people fucking hate being advertised during 90% of their waking hours", it's "harder to reach people at home". This is exactly the same way of thinking that leads spammers to work out ways to avoid spam filters - these assholes think their "message" is so important they have the right to force it upon you whether you want to hear it or not. God, how I hate them.

Re:Get over it.

[XorNand]

I'm guessing that you're laughing to yourself about sticking it to The Man by putting down "I.P. Freely" on the card application? Have you ever, even once, used your club card in conjunction with a check or a credit card? Whoops. There goes your alter ego.