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Lexus To Start Spamming Car Buyers In Their Cars
techmuse writes "Lexus has announced plans to send targeted messages to buyers of its cars based on the buyer's zip code and vehicle type. Unlike regular spam, these messages will be delivered directly to the buyer's vehicle, and will play to the vehicle's occupants as audio. Lexus has promised to make the messages relevant to the car buyers." Imagine the fun that some targeted malware could do — not that such a thing could happen to a Lexus.
I'm stunned that Lexus just made me appreciate my crappy Neon.
They claim it won't be used to bombard customers with ads...yah right. If the capability exists, it will eventually be used for advertising.
So now, I get to spend a huge premium so I can have a car with the Lexus name, thereby making all the other suburbanites jealous, and on top of it I get "targeted" advertisements. I'll think about getting a car that spews ads at me if and only if you give me the car for free.
On the other hand, if you subscribe to the prevailing theory as to why people buy a Lexus in the first place, all of the "targeted" ads will be for Viagra.
I hope they plan to charge the spam recipient a nominal fee of $10 for each such spam, with no daily limit on spams and with no way to opt out. Why? Because I own stock in GM.
My ad would read (aloud):
USED LEXUS FOR SALE - CHEAP, MUST GO. Best suited to hearing impaired. Call 555-1212.
Stupidest... idea... ever. However, I'm afraid that the world will go more and more this way. I'm surprised that things like this come first in "premium brand" products though - I would expect it more in a bargain-basement car to help subsidize costs maybe, but Lexus?
MadCow.
I used to have a sig, but I set it free and it never came back.
Or maybe Planned Parenthood at that point...
I'm trying to teach myself to set people on fire with my mind... Is it hot in here?
"Hello Lexus Owner! This Car will self destruct in 10...9...8..." ... For extra evil, make the first two minutes of the audio dead air.
#fuckbeta #iamslashdot #dicemustdie
detect the implied insult?
"If you're gullible enough to spend $60k on a Toyota, here's a deal for you!"
Welcome to the Panopticon. Used to be a prison, now it's your home.
Scene: Inside Lexus Car
Driver: (turns on ignition, car starts)
Lexus: Good morning Driver 1, thank you for choosing lexus. Today's commute is brought to you by McDonalds, why don't you stop in on your way to work and get a McGriddle and McCoffee?
Driver: (backs out of driveway, heads down the road) No thanks car, It'll just be to work and back today.
Lexus: (tone of car changes to be deeper and more aggressive) I'm afraid I can't let you do that Driver 1. (car auto steers to nearest McDonalds, forces driver to purchase McGriddle and McCoffee)
Bucci says he's sensitive to luxury-car owners who may not want to participate. "Many of our owners enjoy their car as a cocoon," he says.
They know this, and yet they violate the sanctity of that cocoon anyways. How self-destructively stupid can you get? Can you give the Darwin award to a car maker?
Will there be an advertisement where the driver rolls down their window to give someone some Grey Poupon and is overcome by the noise of nearby jackhammers, then rolls up the window and is blissfully appreciating the quiet when suddenly they're startled out of their relaxation by a blaring message from Toyota recommending that they investigate a nearby 5 star restaurant, the marketing department having recently decided to increase the volume because a large segment of their target demographic is hard of hearing?
-1 Uncomfortable Truth
There is no "too big", there is only "insufficient force".
Justice is the sheep getting arrested while an impartial judge declares the vote void.
I see - you're near - a - Starbucks. Don't you - want - to get - a - latte?
Is that with the William Shatner voice module turned on?
Have these people lost their minds? I spend $60,000 for an automobile and now it will spam me while driving it? Are you serious, Lexus? What could possibly motivate these people to want to spam their customers AFTER a purchase?
"Dude. He just bought the car."
"Really?"
"Serious."
"What else will he buy? Lets try to sell him a bridge."
"No, no. I've got something better. Let's get him to agree to getting ads in the premium-priced car he just purchased."
"Brilliant! This is gonna be so good..."
"OK. Serious face, now. Prepare to witness epic salesmanship."
Clippy the Lexus says...
"It looks like you are driving to your ex-girlfriends house; should I contact the highway patrol to schedule a breathalyzer test?"
-- Terry
Some channels do.
Unfortunately my favorite channel (comedy 150) is one of them. And they're not normal commercials either; they're all for erectile dysfunction, male enhancement, gotomeeting.com, and colon cleansing.
As if everyone who likes to laugh has a small, soft penis, a bloated colon, and needs to meet with people in Hong Kong NOW!
Can you give the Darwin award to a car maker?
Which one?
Car companies are intelligently designed, not evolved. OK, maybe not intelligently, but they're definitely designed rather than evolved through sexual reproduction. I'd say no.
I dunno. If you look through the who owns who and the who's partnered with whom in the car industry, I'd say sexual reproduction is probably a pretty good description of what goes on. Well sexual reproduction with alot of incest going on.
You're thinking small. Why miniaturize the laser, when we could instead enlarge the sharks? -John Searle
It's worse than that. In Sweden they are driven around as buses...
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