TV Station Gas stations are a farce of modern life. While pumping air is not what I would call a relaxing activity, it is at least a break from the endless chatter of our heavily commercialized existence. Gas Pump TV took that little bit of mental time away from us years ago, and it’s only getting worse: A new report from Daily Beast details how political ads started appearing on the pump.
I can say: Oy. As if ordinary people slap the “I did it” sticker on the pump and political groups ambush people at train stations didn’t make the simple act of refueling your car difficult:
“It’s a captive audience,” a Democratic campaign consultant told The Daily Beast, requesting anonymity because they were not authorized to speak for their candidates. “I mean, everyone – rich, poor, middle class – needs gas and for a relatively low cost you can get their attention while they’re standing at the pump.”
Gas station dashboards also allow campaigns to rerun ads they paid for on social media and TV, the campaign consultant explained. And they save significantly when replacing TV ads, especially in major metropolitan areas, where pricing is similar to the social media impression-based model.
In Georgia, the candidate dominates the Democratic party Stacey Abrams advertises at all 12 state media markets at more than 5,500 gas stations to highlight her views on lifting the state’s 29 cents/gallon sales tax on gasoline.
Alex Floyd, the Abrams campaign’s rapid response director, said in a statement that they “[D]dedicated to meeting voters where they are — including at the gas pump,” where she has advocated extending the gas tax moratorium through the end of the year.
Floyd said the campaign will continue to use ads to emphasize “money in Georgians’ pockets and not raising taxes,” in addition to suspending gas taxes through the end of 2022.
Because that’s what drivers of vehicles in traffic need; an inevitable reminder of controversial issues to voice their anger right before getting behind the wheel of their vehicle.
In 2008, Obama’s campaign actually had an ad rejected by Gas Station TV, the ad had 104 million”viewers” one month. TV gas stations don’t want politics to disturb their efforts to sell you useless crap. It currently allows political ads, but nothing negative or what could be considered “offensive advertising” according to its editorial policy. Since Gas Station TV isn’t actually a TV, it doesn’t need to follow Federal Communications Commission standards for equal time for both parties.
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It doesn’t really matter if it’s negative or positive, just mentioning certain politicians or issues can create pointless anger in some Americans. We faced politics 24/7. Why can’t we just take this break?
