Login
or
Register
Home
»
Trains Magazine
»
Forums
»
General Discussion
»
The Return of Rolling Billboards?
Edit post
Edit your reply below.
Post Body
Enter your post below.
<p>Personally, I would prefer not to see the sides of freight trains carrying billboards. I think it would change the no-nonsense, utilitarian look into something cheap, gaudy, tacky, and maybe even squirrelly. This would be especially so, when you consider a continuous string of say 150 attention grabbing billboards. Something to keep in mind is that our society contains groups who make a cause of claiming to being victimized, so they can demand redress. </p><p>A classic example of the victimization movement is the claim that people are getting fat because corporations are using marketing to hypnotize victims into overeating. Another emerging and quickly developing example is that credit card companies victimize people by hypnotizing them into spending money they don't have. This movement is quickly gaining momentum with the current sub-prime mortgage fiasco. Rights activists are lining up victims who are claiming to have been taken advantage of by overly liberal lending policies. A common denominator of victims groups is that their target is always a bully with deep pockets. </p><p>The point I am making is that there is also a group who claim to be victimized by billboards. To add a little extra horsepower to their seemingly lightweight cause, they commonly ally themselves with the victims of light pollution. Their deep pocket targets are the corporations who use billboards, and illuminate their storefronts at night for marketing exposure as well as security. Can you imagine the boost they would get if you add the deep pockets of the railroad industry to their target?</p><p>Something else to consider is that the FRA has just converted the sides of freight cars into a highway hazard with their reflector mandate. So the advertising effect of railcar billboards would have to be weighed against their effect on the highway hazard. Billboard victims might argue that the billboards can be so enticing that they cause motorists to drive into the sides of trains. </p><p>Of course the FRA will probably see the flashy, reflectorized billboards as a way to augment their mandated safety reflectors, and thus make a rule that all freight cars must carry some minimum amount of billboard adverting. If enough paid advertising was not forthcoming, the railroads could fill out their FRA requirement with public service announcements. Possibly some cars could be used to carry warning messages about the dangers of billboards. </p>
Tags (Optional)
Tags are keywords that get attached to your post. They are used to categorize your submission and make it easier to search for. To add tags to your post type a tag into the box below and click the "Add Tag" button.
Add Tag
Update Reply
Join our Community!
Our community is
FREE
to join. To participate you must either login or register for an account.
Login »
Register »
Search the Community
Newsletter Sign-Up
By signing up you may also receive occasional reader surveys and special offers from Trains magazine.Please view our
privacy policy
More great sites from Kalmbach Media
Terms Of Use
|
Privacy Policy
|
Copyright Policy