It’s an Ad, Ad, Ad, Ad World

Good news for those of us who feel we don’t see, hear, read or absorb enough advertising. There’s a whole lot more on the way, and it’s showing up in places you never dreamed.

We’ve all seen airplanes towing ad banners to decorate the broad blue skies over beaches on sunny Sundays. Now there are sailboats in the advertising business just offshore. Guess which part of the sailboat carries the ads.

And if you’re drowning there, you might not notice at first that, according to the lifeguard’s shirt, he is being brought to you by a brand of skincare products or fashionable swimwear. The rescue truck ferrying folks to the hospital makes Nissan the official vehicle of certain beaches. Beach-cleaning machines have been rigged to leave behind endless sandy imprints for Skippy peanut butter or Planters nuts. This saves us from walking on plain old sand.

Mini-billboards on city buses are still around, but who’d notice next to the “bus wraps” that turn whole buses into behemoth ads? And those ads on taxi roofs? Well, now Los Angeles has ads on taxi hubcaps as well--and they don’t turn with the wheels.

Finally, you know how you get in a crowded elevator and nobody says anything, feigning fascination with the inspection certificate or the floor-indicator lights? Well, thanks to the Elevator News Network concept, nearly 300 major skyscrapers now provide an ad and news ticker right above the door. Next thing you know, there’ll be ads in newspapers.