Mobile billboards are one of the latest tools used by advertising companies to bring products to the eyes of potential consumers.
But if those vehicular commercials burn viewers' retinas to a crisp, the practice is surely counterproductive.
One driver was stunned to be stuck behind an obnoxiously bright digital billboard surrounding the walls of a truck trailer while driving at night. They posted a video of the encounter to the r/a******design subreddit, with many commenters wondering how it could possibly be legal.
Even via filmed footage, the lights look blinding, and that would surely be dangerous for drivers trying to focus on the road in the darkness.
"This crap should be illegal," one Redditor said. "It can cause accidents."
Another commenter agreed, writing: "Saw this s*** while I drove to work the other day. I live in Boulder. I don't know how these are legal."
The advertisement is so saturated that it's difficult to even understand what the truck is supposed to be promoting, with it only becoming clear that it's an AT&T commercial for fiber broadband once the person filming from the car behind gets close.
"This is more like a blue artificial sun on the back of a truck," another Redditor added, with one user grimly observing, "And nothing happens until someone dies."
Some users also noted that the blue lights should also be prohibited because they could be confused with a police vehicle.
Furthermore, the billboards could be a hazard for pedestrians, with drivers potentially distracted by billboards and those on foot paying more attention to the advertising than the traffic.
This is not the only example of advertising showing up in unexpected places. Floating billboards are becoming increasingly common, either on boats or pontoons, with beach-goers getting their peaceful time by the water disturbed by irritating promotions for products and services.
And while floating billboards on boats will have environmental impacts in terms of unnecessary use of dirty fuel to power the vessels — which will produce planet-warming pollution and could leak harmful chemicals into the water — at least they are unlikely to be the reason for accidents.
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