If You Can Read This Ad, You're Driving

When you’re stuck in traffic gridlock – or you’re tailgating – and you have ample time to read the rear of the vehicle in front of you, does it annoy you that the only available reading material may be a bumper sticker that says, “Be nice to your kids. They’ll choose your nursing home”?

Well, in California – where so many trends start – drivers may soon have an option. And so may brand marketers.

State senator Curren Price has proposed adding "auto" to "mobile advertising" by backing a bill to green light a new revenue stream: electronic license plates.

The idea: give the California Department of Motor Vehicles the authority to investigate emerging “digital electronic license plate” technology. Apparently, one end result could be that, instead of that static license number now stamped out by prison inmates, your license-plate space also could display an innumerable number of marketing message.

A San Francisco-based company called Smart Plate Technologies is developing such devices. And just think of the possibilities.

Car dealers could advertise fuel-efficient models to frustrated motorists stuck smelling gasoline fumes in traffic. Local TV stations could provide teasers for the evening newscast you’ll see after you drag your tired body over the threshold. Amber Alert messages.

And digital plates could be a bonanza for location-based marketers. Imagine what easy prey you’d be at that moment for an image of a Big Mac being offered at the McDonalds a quarter-mile up the road. Talk about spoiling your dinner!

Car-owners would have the opportunity to opt out of displaying ads on their vehicles. And for those who opt in and wish to avoid being a distraction to other motorists, who are already being reprimanded for texting, the digital plates would only start showing ads after a vehicle stops for four seconds.

Somehow, the vehicle’s license-plate number always would be in view. Now, that’s a relief!