Bad ads really piss me off. Nowadays when I see a bad ad I flip it the bird. Sometimes they take the shape of a web banner or a TV commercial, but I’ve found that most of the time bad ads find their way up on billboards. Needless to say, my road trips to the shore are filled with hundreds of flipped birds occasionally accompanied with the biting of the bottom lip action and a guttural “ughhh” grunt (depending on the degree of horribleness).

Here’s an example of one that would get my total “go to hell, bad ad” package (complete with bird, lip bite and “ughhhh”).

Anyway. Given this you can imagine my delight when I read this article. They’re putting little hidden cameras in billboards now. Why? To measure the overall effectiveness of the ad, determine the average demographics of viewer, how long they’re looking at it, etc. This is great for advertisers, but is proving to be quite a controversial for consumers who apparently hate being secretly filmed. Go figure.

I think it’s great. No, not because I’m an advertiser. Because I can help to better the world with my irrational displays of hatred and annoyance towards inanimate objects.