They not spinnin': ads on taxi cab hubcaps

They (you know who we're talking about) have managed to find another place to put advertising: on the hubcaps of the taxi cabs. Not sure how you calculate a CPM for something that'll you'd think would spend most of its time spinning so fast no one'll be able to tell what it is you're trying to shill, but the covers are supposedly mounted in way that they'll remain still while driving. Either way, Virgin Cola and Taco Bell have already had their messages affixed to hubcaps on taxis in LA, and Ad Fleet, the company that started the program, is also talking to New York City's Taxi and Limousine Commission about adding them to cabs here. Oh, and they're also planning bigger hubcap covers that'll fit on city buses, so there really won't be any escape.

[Via Gothamist]

[forgey @ Dec 19th 2005 12:04AM]

We've had a few caps around Toronto with those hubcap ads for about a year or more. They are really disturbing to see when you are driving because your eye is showing something that isn't moving on an object that your brain knows should be moving. It's an odd thing the first few times you run across it.

[dan wu @ Dec 19th 2005 12:04AM]

The hubcaps are weighted and surprisingly, it's pretty still when moving and you can clearly see the ad. I believe the taxicab hubcap ads have been around a few years already.

[Mike O @ Dec 19th 2005 12:04AM]

Here's a post about these ads showing up in Los Angeles: http://blogging.la/archives/001581.phtml.

I've seen them and had a hard time explaining to the 4-year-old how a car moves when the wheels don't spin. As seen on the local freeway, "That taxi goes when the wheels aren't turning!"

Time to re-learn physics.

[pete @ Dec 19th 2005 12:04AM]

I think those should illegal. A lot of people look at the wheels of a vehicle to help determine how quickly a vehicle is moving. It is very disquieting when you see a car moving, but its wheels seem to be holding still.

I also don't like the blinking break lights. They're distracting to the point where they require an effort to not look at them as you're driving. Maybe I'm ADD, but I don't think I'm the only one.

[Dithermaster @ Dec 19th 2005 12:04AM]

I saw some of these in L.A. when I was there for SIGGRAPH. They catch your eye because they sway back and forth. Argh! In my hometown, there's a truck that drives around with an ad on the bed. It's not delivering or transporting anything except the ad. I have sworn to never buy anything from the store advertised. Their ad made an impression, but not a good one.
///d@

[quanta @ Dec 19th 2005 12:04AM]

I've these on Toronto taxicabs for two years now - they were advertising Yahoo!, I remember.

There is a professor at UofT, Steve Mann, who half-jokingly proposes using virtual light goggles to act as a visual spam filter for the eyes...I think it's getting to the point we might need something like that.

[Bill @ Dec 19th 2005 12:04AM]

I agree with Pete - as a motorcyclist, I always look at what the tires are doing as the best gauge of what the car will be doing. I remember the first time I saw spinning rims I was surprised enough to tap my brakes, thinking the guy was rolling into the intersection! Well, it's one thing to think a car's moving when it's not, it's another to think a car's not moving when it is. It's dangerous and distracting. IMO they should ban these as well as any signs with flashing lights or computerized displays. They are just too hazerdous in an already too-distracted world.

[Jonas @ Dec 19th 2005 12:04AM]

Is that a modified picture? That's a taxi from Vancouver - note the 604 area code on the side - but I have not seen any of this style of advertiseing in the city yet...

[h0h0h0 @ Dec 19th 2005 12:04AM]

Actually, I've seen them get stuck quite often...

[Charles @ Dec 19th 2005 12:04AM]

Yep, had these in Toronto about two years ago, but then they disappeared. I've just recently seen them on cabs again, so I guess someone's trying succeed where someone else failed...

[Trevor @ Dec 19th 2005 12:04AM]

Yeah, we had those a few years back in Boston. Might've been Yahoo, but might not.

How come I can't watch a DVD in-dash, but I watch a video on the top of a cab?

[Chris Gunton @ Dec 19th 2005 12:04AM]

i was begining to wonder if i was getting my recomended daily dose of advertising.

Ever since FireFox+Adblock came together ive been suffering an ad deficiency.

Seriously though, when will this stop? When will companies realise that although they might hit the buttons of one person, the rest of us are enraged by these ads.

[Maikeru @ Dec 19th 2005 12:04AM]

I'm surprised companies haven't started using persistance of vision on the wheels (like was suggested on the Hokeyspokes product site) or some other part of a vehicle�well unless extraneous lighting is in violation with traffic code.

[David @ Dec 19th 2005 12:04AM]

I remember seeing these on early '70s muscle cars, specifically the Hemi Superbird. No advertising back in those days, but they did have a cute picture of the Looney Tunes' Road Runner.

[Brian @ Dec 19th 2005 12:04AM]

They are on Yellow Cabs here in San Diego as well.

[Ryan @ Dec 19th 2005 12:04AM]

Offtopic, but actually I don't think Steve Mann was joking. If I remember correctly Steve Mann is the "first cyborg". Everything he sees is through cameras mounted to his body, and from what I remember he was working on some software which would recognise ads and filter them out before he saw them. I am sure there is more info on his site www.wearcam.org. He also has a book too.

[aprodite @ Dec 19th 2005 12:04AM]

Doesn't this remind you of one of the Bat-mobiles? I'm sure there was one several years ago that had the "Bat-Sign" on all the wheels, and didn't spin.

Life imitates art yet again.