Non Sports Related Rant

OK. I know I have been doing a piss poor job of keeping up this blog lately. Aaron has been calling and emailing the crap out of me to complain about my recent laziness. But, I assure you it has nothing to do with me being lazy. I have just been really busy at work which sometimes carries over into my family life.

I'd like to sit here and tell you that I will try to do a better job of keeping this blog updated, but soccer season just started again and I now have 2 kids participating in the sport. And, both kids play on different teams which both practice on different nights. Throw in the fact that I am an avid fisherman and there just hasn't been too much time left for blogging recently.
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And now for the rant that I promised you.

I went to a BP gas station the other day and was greeted at the gas pump by an extremely annoying video playing on an LCD screen mounted on top of the gas pump I was using. The video was basically a commercial for items that could be purchased inside the BP store itself. (You can get an idea of what I am talking about here.) I found the video to be so egregious that I changed my mind about filling the tank and stopped at $10.00 worth of fuel just so I could get away from the video screen before I developed one of those "all day" headaches. In all fairness, I must admit that it wasn't the actual video that I found to be so offensive, it was the blaring audio that accompanied the video.

Americans are constantly being bombarded with advertisements for everything from soft drinks to adult diapers, so I guess it was just a matter of time before someone figured out a way to nab us at the gas pump as well. Advertising at the gas pump is really a good idea if you think about it. There we are, just standing there with our thumbs up our asses waiting for the precious nectar that we call gasoline to pump into our massive SUVs. Oh sure, some little busy bodies might occasionally take the opportunity to check their oil, or wash their windows. But, most lazy Americans just stand there at the gas pump for about three and a half minutes doing their best not to look stupid.

I'm not totally against the idea of advertising at the gas pumps, I just think there has to be a better way to do it. So, I am going to offer some suggestions below that I hope someone in upper management at BP might be willing to take into consideration.

1) This isn't a suggestion as much as it is a question. The advertisement that was playing at the BP I visited appeared to be only for items available inside the BP convenience store itself. Has anyone at BP considered selling ad time on the video screens to other companies not affiliated with BP? Perhaps a lucrative advertisement deal with a third party could offset fuel costs enough to allow BP to sell gasoline for a penny or two cheaper per gallon than BP's competitors across the street. Most people would probably be willing to put up with the annoying advertisement if it meant cheaper gas prices.

2) Lower the volume on the commercials a little bit. My ears were practically bleeding after about 10 seconds. The volume was so loud that I'm pretty sure my grandmother could have even heard it, and she's been dead for five years.

3) Give customers the option of adjusting the audio level themselves, or perhaps even the option of shutting the damn thing off altogether. I would have gladly paid another penny or two a gallon just to be able to shut the damn thing off during my recent visit.

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I am sure there are plenty of other ways that BP's new "gas pump" advertising campaign could be improved. The three things I mentioned above were the ideas that immediately popped into my head this morning as I drove past the BP station on my way to the Speedway station to buy my fuel. You see, the Speedway station has better coffee in my opinion, and my ears don't hurt after pumping ten gallons of gas.