Signs of the Times?

There's an article in this week's Economist in the Technology Quarterly section called Signs of the Times about huge video screens that, as the article puts it, "bombard people with ads while they shop".

An excerpt from the article:

With the advent of hundreds of television channels, the internet, and that particular scourge of the advertiser, the personal video recorder, consumers are harder to reach than ever. So where is the hottest place to put advertisements? In supermarkets—because that's where the shoppers are.

And goes on to say...

This ability to reach consumers just as they are deliberating about which item to pick from the shelves—what the marketers at Procter & Gamble, a big consumer-goods firm, call “the first moment of truth”—has huge potential. According to Point of Purchase Advertising International, an independent trade association, more than 70% of purchasing decisions are made in shops.

So is this the future of advertising?...More screens, more intrusive messages everywhere we turn, more manipulation of my eyeballs with the sole intent of trying to get me to buy something.

Keyword search works because you are reaching the user at the point of intent. They are "searching" for something with the intent of finding more information and/or related products and are therefore open to "suggestions".

When I go into a supermarket or a drug store, I'm usually not "searching" for information about products. I know what I want to get most of the time, I just want to know where it is. And even if I dont know exactly what I want - let's say I do put "beer" on my list as the article suggests - I dont think seeing an ad for Molson on a huge television screen is going to steer my purchase decision.

Maybe these screens should be interactive. I could walk up to them and tell them what I'm looking for and they could point me in the right direction and give me options.

Now that would be a technology centered around my needs and my preferences that would enhance my shopping experience.

I mean really, would you rather have a butler looking after your every need or a rather loud mother-in-law screaming commands at you from above?