Gecko to Grace the GWB

So, we’re going to get a new billboard to detract from an iconic bridge in/near New York City. Wonderful.

The billboard is going to be promoting a competitor of my company’s. Even better.

From the New York Times:

The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey is expected to announce an arrangement with Geico, the auto insurance giant, that will include the posting of a huge billboard on top of the toll plaza in Fort Lee, N.J., that says “Geico Drive Safely.” Drivers will also see Geico signs with the company’s mascot, a gecko, on the tollbooths and electronic signs on the approach roads.[...]

Geico is not the first company to think about buying a bridge — or at least the advertising rights to one. And other public agencies have been exploring unconventional ways to bring in more money, even if it means toying with long-held taboos about commercializing public spaces. The Golden Gate Bridge, Highway and Transportation District, for instance, is exploring how to sell sponsorships in San Francisco.

As folks like you and me try to avoid the annoying deluge of advertising in the world to me, businesses seem to be finding more places to sneak in an advertising message.

Why don’t we just go ahead and require all pillows to relay advertising messages, to be absorbed by osmosis while one sleeps. Perhaps then we won’t need quite so many billboards blighting the landscape.