Filed under: Marketing/Advertising
Parking stripe ads assault the senses from beneath your feet
My father used to stripe parking lots as a side business, and while still with us, he will nonetheless find a grave, hop in it, and roll over after learning that his beloved lines are now being taped over with advertisements. Parking Stripe Advertising, a three years young agency from Colorado, is responsible for this scheme that covers those long yellow and white lines with a heavy-duty tape bearing promotional ads. The advertisements themselves cost about $40 per stripe and are made using a heavy-duty tape that's recyclable with adhesive that breaks down over time.A current promotion advertising the return of ABC's Desperate Housewives is running concurrently in California and New York, and it appears to be a hit with the parking crowd, though store owners have reported a few complaints. Otherwise, consumers and advertising analysts alike think the idea is brilliant for the way it captures one's attention in a new and unique way.
[Source: Daily News via Kickingtires.com]
Being a second generation parking lot striper, I find the idea of parking stripe ads appalling and an insult to the art form. Yeah, I said it. Striping involves both muscle and a fair amount of brain power, as well as the ability to run after absent minded drivers swinging an orange cone and screaming "Watch the paint, @$$#%()!!!" To cover up all that work with nothing more than fancy colored duct tape so I'll watch Eva Longoria on Sunday nights, which I do anyway... well, it's just not right.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
waiownsyou 4:07PM (9/18/2007)
Next thing you know, traffic tickets will include advertisements for "Deal or No Deal."
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Brian Dreggors 4:12PM (9/18/2007)
Remind me to do burnouts on each and every one of these.
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Phillip 4:43PM (9/18/2007)
Amen
speedeeoilandtune1 4:19PM (9/18/2007)
This is indeed the age of IDIOCRACY!
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felipe 4:19PM (9/18/2007)
heavy duty tape??
this idea is stupid.
wish I thought of it first.
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felipe 4:24PM (9/18/2007)
oh oh i got it.
advertise ON the traffic light.
ei.. RED Stop light that has the words etched in it.
Stop @ Burts Wine & Spirits.
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JD 5:08PM (9/18/2007)
lol! good call, man.
Papi L-Gee 5:08PM (9/18/2007)
Wouldn't work here. Everyone seems to park on top of the lines anyway, so they'd never see the ads.
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flychinook 5:14PM (9/18/2007)
Classless advertising for a classless show.
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gsolman6 5:15PM (9/18/2007)
Isn't there enough advertising in America? Will more of it increase our GDP or quality of life? I really don't thinks so, its just the marketing groups that like this stuff.
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howard 6:30PM (9/18/2007)
Yeah! and while you're turning and twisting to try and read the ad you stumble and fall! LAW SUIT, LAW SUIT, . but who do you sue? The advertizer or the one who allowed it to be put in the way or the one who actually put a stupid thing like this on the parking lot or street!
Hank Alexander 5:31PM (9/18/2007)
I saw this out at Denver International Airport a few months back with QWEST (the local phone company) and the tape fell off the lines in the INDOOR parking garage after about a week. If it can't stand up to an indoor parking garage in Denver during a cold snap, it will NEVER make it outdoors in a cold climate, or a hot one like Phoenix for that matter.
Anyway this is about as dumb an idea as there has ever been, but like bottled water if someone is willing to pay then someone is willing sell!
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Wheel of Fish 6:34PM (9/18/2007)
This new advertising style of permeating every waking moment with advertising is getting pretty annoying. Adverts that exploit frustrating situations are particularly bad. Imagine spending 10 minutes trying to find a parking spot, and once you finally park and get out, the first thing you see is an in-your-face demand to watch a TV show?
Reminds me of flying out of Richmond Int'l Airport last month. The normal gray TSA bins for sending your belongings through X-Ray were replaced with new black bins with ads pasted inside. Wait 10 minutes, remove all your belongings, and stare at an ad for an upscale housing community while you're doing it. Just to complete the experience, the tray tables on the plane were covered with ads for Ford.
At what point will we stand up for our (implied) right to go about our day without having ads forced onto every surface we see and touch, even when we've paid for the privelege?
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frank 6:39PM (9/18/2007)
We have these in front of our local Trader Joe's. Yesterday I saw an old lady in a big ol Gran Marquis drive around the parking lot three times thinking those spots were reserved. Maybe she really thought it was PARKING FOR DESPERATE HOUSEWIVES ONLY.
bill 6:56PM (9/18/2007)
I love this idea. Maybe we can resurrect the old Burma Shave advertising program by spacing phrases through lighted intersections. There could be something like "Run a red light, suffer a ticketed plight, go to court, lose the fight".
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SPG 7:18PM (9/18/2007)
Not a bad idea.
Could they also say "PARK BETWEEN ME"?
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Snark 8:23PM (9/18/2007)
I'm with Bill Hicks. Anybody in marketing reading this, go kill yourself now. Please. Do it for the children.
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Centophobia 6:13AM (9/19/2007)
Sorry, but I think that this is such a cool idea. And who cares because parking stripes are so boring and ugly anyway.
Parking stripes as art - Meh.
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bk 9:26AM (9/19/2007)
No, no way. Parking stripes are not an art form. Sorry.
If you're doing something different than regular stripes, talk to us, but if you're just making stripes that are straight and evenly placed, you're being precise, which is your job. If you're making nice curves that follow the road correctly, again, you're doing your job.
An art form it is not.
You are deluded.
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tux 12:17PM (9/19/2007)
Serves you right for duh-riving a car.
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