Cooler screen advertising: Enshittification comes to the grocery store

[grantmeaname]

Computers are Bad: Cooler Screens

I still cringe every time I get out of my car for gas to hear a shouty lady on the pump encouraging me to step inside for a donut and a pack of smokes, so it was very unwelcome news that Kroger, the nation's largest grocery chain, has begun installing 4K advertising on the cooler doors. One of my mustachian friends sent me a terrific longform blog post by JB Crawford, "Cooler Screens". I don't even want to rhetorically ask 'what will they come up with next', because this is already worse than I would ever have imagined.

[Morning Glory]

As if grocery stores already aren't an overstimulating hellscape?
I suppose they will shut them off for two hours on Saturday morning and boast about how "sensory friendly " they are. No, wait, they will only do that for the month of April.

I still think "Moving billboards" (actual trucks being drven around for no purpose besides distracting drivers with flashing advertisements) are objectively worse because of the safety hazard, pollution,  and traffic they create.

[GilesMM]

Computers are Bad: Cooler Screens

I still cringe every time I get out of my car for gas to hear a shouty lady on the pump encouraging me to step inside for a donut and a pack of smokes, so it was very unwelcome news that Kroger, the nation's largest grocery chain, has begun installing 4K advertising on the cooler doors. One of my mustachian friends sent me a terrific longform blog post by JB Crawford, "Cooler Screens". I don't even want to rhetorically ask 'what will they come up with next', because this is already worse than I would ever have imagined.

A talking screen that gets a low-(or no-)margin gas consumer to walk inside a store and spend money on high margin products makes a lot of sense. How else would the gas pumper know what delights were in the store?   In our state, we have not been allowed to pump our own gas until recently so no issue.


A screen that only causes one to open a cooler they are standing in front of that has glass doors is going to have a lot lower return.  But a cooler may be the best place for "live" advertising as frozen crap, in addition to being horrible nutritional value, is usually high margin.  Groceries ought to put screens in the low-margin produce section section luring you over to buy a bag of Totino's Pizza Rolls (8gm fat!).

[Miss Piggy]

A solution in search of a problem?

I mean, what are these screens actually advertising? The very things that sit right behind them in the cooler, which we used to be able to see clearly and decide to purchase?

[Morning Glory]

A solution in search of a problem?

I mean, what are these screens actually advertising? The very things that sit right behind them in the cooler, which we used to be able to see clearly and decide to purchase?

I don't get it either.  Won't it lead to higher electricity costs and more food spoilage from unnecessary opening of the doors?

[AccidentialMustache]

https://readerslibrary.org/wp-content/uploads/The-Subliminal-Man.pdf

Mustachian dystopia, but hey. You asked how it could get worse... the good news is perhaps unlike what the 50's thought, subliminal messaging doesn't actually do that.

[Michael in ABQ]

Go watch "Minority Report" - everywhere is covered in screens that use retinal scans for personalized ads.

[Davnasty]

I still cringe every time I get out of my car for gas to hear a shouty lady on the pump encouraging me to step inside for a donut and a pack of smokes

There's usually 8 unmarked buttons around the screen, 4 on each side. The second one down on the right is the mute button.

I stopped at a pump where someone had written "mute" with a marker next to it and I've tried it on every one since then, always works.

[grantmeaname]

HERO. Thank you so much.

[clarkfan1979]

I went golfing in Florida last winter and the GPS screens on the golf carts ran commercials every 15 minutes for retail apparel (golf shirts). It was so annoying that I will never golf there again.

[ChpBstrd]

Next:
Ad-free grocery and drug stores, which require you to pay a subscription fee to "join".

[grantmeaname]

"our proprietary racial profiling software detects kroger plus members as they walk up to advertisements and replaces the images with the smell of clean laundry"

[Morning Glory]

"our proprietary racial profiling software detects kroger plus members as they walk up to advertisements and replaces the images with the smell of clean laundry"

Ew.
"Clean laundry " to most people in the US smells like endocrine disruptors and allergens.  It takes 2 or 3 washings in unscented detergent + baking soda just to get the bounce/downy/whatever smell out of thrift store clothes.

[Dicey]

I mostly shop at Grocery Outlet and Costco. I'm hoping that neither of them adapt to this newfangled thing. 《Shudder》

[grantmeaname]

It's SO anti consumer that I can't imagine Costco would ever entertain the idea.

[GuitarStv]

"our proprietary racial profiling software detects kroger plus members as they walk up to advertisements and replaces the images with the smell of clean laundry"

Ew.
"Clean laundry " to most people in the US smells like endocrine disruptors and allergens.  It takes 2 or 3 washings in unscented detergent + baking soda just to get the bounce/downy/whatever smell out of thrift store clothes.

There's nothing like the smell of fresh endocrine disruptors in the morning.

[dang1]

i tend to tune out non-relevant advertising. if a loss leader is in my to-get list, i'm all over it

[ChpBstrd]

I get the feeling Americans are thinking about attention the way we used to think about herds of buffalo, sequoia forests, oil and gas, and clean air/water.

Something that was once considered infinite in supply will soon be revealed finite, and the political fights of the future will be about who gets to exploit the resource, and how much.

[glacio09]

Next:
Ad-free grocery and drug stores, which require you to pay a subscription fee to "join".

Isn't that just Costco?

[getsorted]

https://readerslibrary.org/wp-content/uploads/The-Subliminal-Man.pdf

Mustachian dystopia, but hey. You asked how it could get worse... the good news is perhaps unlike what the 50's thought, subliminal messaging doesn't actually do that.

I believe the term "enshittification" was coined by Cory Doctorow, whose dystopian novel "Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom" is also a great projection of how it could get worse.

[bacchi]

https://readerslibrary.org/wp-content/uploads/The-Subliminal-Man.pdf

Mustachian dystopia, but hey. You asked how it could get worse... the good news is perhaps unlike what the 50's thought, subliminal messaging doesn't actually do that.

I believe the term "enshittification" was coined by Cory Doctorow, whose dystopian novel "Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom" is also a great projection of how it could get worse.

I think it was Infinite Jest that had sponsored years. "Happy 2024, Year of Nike!"

[crocheted_stache]

I mostly shop at Grocery Outlet and Costco. I'm hoping that neither of them adapt to this newfangled thing. 《Shudder》

One of the reasons I mostly shop at Costco has been the general lack of music and screens. I wonder if anyone in charge recognizes that as a feature.

[ChpBstrd]

Necro-post resurrection with updates!

Walgreens replaced its refrigerator doors with digitized ad-laden glass. It might become a $200 million debacle

Cooler Screens sued the pharmacy chain for $200 million in June 2023 for breach of contract, according to a case filing in Cook County, Ill. While it’s not news that Cooler Screens sued Walgreens, and Walgreens subsequently countersued Cooler Screens for monetary damages, Bloomberg reported Thursday Cooler Screens CEO Arsen Avakian found his own means of retaliation.

Avakian’s team secretly cut the data feeds to digitized refrigerator doors at more than 100 Walgreens stores in the Chicago area, Bloomberg reported. These “smart doors” would typically display images and prices for the actual products behind the glass, as well as advertisements. As part of their contract, Cooler Screens had installed 10,000 smart doors at hundreds of U.S. Walgreens locations, according to Bloomberg, and had plans to install 35,000 more doors.

But in December, the doors at the select Chicago locations “glazed over with white pixels,” or “blacked out altogether,” according to Bloomberg, preventing customers from finding the products they were searching for.

“We were disappointed in Cooler Screens’ attempts to interfere with our customers’ experience in certain stores and are pleased all their cooler doors have now been removed,” a Walgreens spokesperson told Fortune. “We look forward to showing all the ways in which Cooler Screens breached its contract and being vindicated in court.”

“High installation costs, potential privacy concerns, technical challenges, and the risk of overwhelming customers with excessive advertising are key drawbacks” of products like Cooler Screens, Jacqueline Flam, senior vice president of beauty, drug, and OTC retail at consumer intelligence firm NielsenIQ, told Fortune. “Ultimately, cooler screens create risk in complicating a simple, straightforward sale.”

If you can talk like that you can make the big bucks as a consultant.

[glacio09]

“Ultimately, cooler screens create risk in complicating a simple, straightforward sale.”

No shit Sherlock

[grantmeaname]

Rest in Piss, Cooler Screens!

[GuitarStv]

Rest in Piss, Cooler Screens!

I think they kinda guaranteed that by attempting to publicly retaliate against a client in a sales environment over a dispute.  I don't know any retailer who would be OK with a supplier of anything acting in such a manner.  Super unprofessional and probably ended any future the company may have had in a single stroke.

[grantmeaname]

Yeah, when your key client is willing to say in print they are "pleased" to have broken up with you, you are doomed.

[ChpBstrd]

Yeah, when your key client is willing to say in print they are "pleased" to have broken up with you, you are doomed.

The main value of the company is now in the potential for a lawsuit settlement.

The societal value is in a public blowup of the enshittification business model.

[AuspiciousEight]

Wow I'm glad this never took off.

I stare at enough screens everyday already.

[FIRE 20/20]

I still cringe every time I get out of my car for gas to hear a shouty lady on the pump encouraging me to step inside for a donut and a pack of smokes

There's usually 8 unmarked buttons around the screen, 4 on each side. The second one down on the right is the mute button.

I stopped at a pump where someone had written "mute" with a marker next to it and I've tried it on every one since then, always works.

OMG, if this works you are my hero.  I actually want to fill up my car now just to see if I can mute the sound at the pump.  Unfortunately I fill up the car so infrequently I'm going to forget this trick - it might be worth putting a sticky note on the dash board until it becomes a habit. 

[Tasse]

I still cringe every time I get out of my car for gas to hear a shouty lady on the pump encouraging me to step inside for a donut and a pack of smokes

There's usually 8 unmarked buttons around the screen, 4 on each side. The second one down on the right is the mute button.

I stopped at a pump where someone had written "mute" with a marker next to it and I've tried it on every one since then, always works.

OMG, if this works you are my hero.  I actually want to fill up my car now just to see if I can mute the sound at the pump.  Unfortunately I fill up the car so infrequently I'm going to forget this trick - it might be worth putting a sticky note on the dash board until it becomes a habit.

In my experience since seeing it on this thread, it works about half the time. Better than none.

[Siebrie]

New in Western Europe: Nozzle TV, where there is a small screen in the pump nozzle, 'to amuse you while you wait for your tank to fill'.

[GilesMM]

New in Western Europe: Nozzle TV, where there is a small screen in the pump nozzle, 'to amuse you while you wait for your tank to fill'.

Those have been around many years in North America.  The main purpose is to lure customers into the convenience store where the profit margin is vastly higher than it is for fuel (gasoline margins are notoriously low, like a couple %).

[dcheesi]

New in Western Europe: Nozzle TV, where there is a small screen in the pump nozzle, 'to amuse you while you wait for your tank to fill'.

Do your nozzles require you to hold them the whole time? In the US, in most places the nozzle 'trigger' has a flip-stand you can set to let it pump hands-free, with automatic cutoff when it sense the tank is full.

For that reason, most of our annoying ads are played on the LCD screen already built into the pump (or attached to it), since we're still expected to stay close by while it pumps. That's technically simpler, and provides a better viewing angle, etc., so the only advantage I can see to putting it on the nozzle instead is if you're physically tied to that nozzle the whole time?

[GuitarStv]

New in Western Europe: Nozzle TV, where there is a small screen in the pump nozzle, 'to amuse you while you wait for your tank to fill'.

Do your nozzles require you to hold them the whole time? In the US, in most places the nozzle 'trigger' has a flip-stand you can set to let it pump hands-free, with automatic cutoff when it sense the tank is full.

Not sure about Europe, but the auto-fill trigger thing used to be commonplace in Canada but seem to have completely disappeared (at least around here in Toronto).  I was wondering if it was taken away for safety reasons or something.  It's really annoying to have to keep squeezing the thing at -20, and is something I curse regularly.

[dcheesi]

New in Western Europe: Nozzle TV, where there is a small screen in the pump nozzle, 'to amuse you while you wait for your tank to fill'.

Do your nozzles require you to hold them the whole time? In the US, in most places the nozzle 'trigger' has a flip-stand you can set to let it pump hands-free, with automatic cutoff when it sense the tank is full.

Not sure about Europe, but the auto-fill trigger thing used to be commonplace in Canada but seem to have completely disappeared (at least around here in Toronto).  I was wondering if it was taken away for safety reasons or something.  It's really annoying to have to keep squeezing the thing at -20, and is something I curse regularly.

Yeah, I've encountered places that didn't have 'em, though not recently. I can't recall whether it was a specific region, or maybe a specific chain that didn't have them? I agree it's rather annoying.

[GilesMM]

New in Western Europe: Nozzle TV, where there is a small screen in the pump nozzle, 'to amuse you while you wait for your tank to fill'.

Do your nozzles require you to hold them the whole time? In the US, in most places the nozzle 'trigger' has a flip-stand you can set to let it pump hands-free, with automatic cutoff when it sense the tank is full.

Not sure about Europe, but the auto-fill trigger thing used to be commonplace in Canada but seem to have completely disappeared (at least around here in Toronto).  I was wondering if it was taken away for safety reasons or something.  It's really annoying to have to keep squeezing the thing at -20, and is something I curse regularly.

Yeah, I've encountered places that didn't have 'em, though not recently. I can't recall whether it was a specific region, or maybe a specific chain that didn't have them? I agree it's rather annoying.

Most gas regulations are state specific. California outlawed locking petrol nozzles some time ago out of safety concerns, e.g. customers walking into the convenience store while the pump ran merrily perhaps overflowing onto the ground or into an ignited fire.  Oregon likes to follow California but hasn't outlawed locks yet because most stations still have pump attendants who are most effective if they can serve multiple customers at once by locking each open while serving others.  They don't move to far away and are trained to hit the emergency shutoff in case of trouble (unless your average motorist would do something dumb like drive away).

[Morning Glory]

How do you know when it's full if there's no automatic shutoff?

[GuitarStv]

How do you know when it's full if there's no automatic shutoff?

The pump still clicks when the tank is full, the little metal bit that would normally hold the trigger down is missing from our pumps though.

[GilesMM]

How do you know when it's full if there's no automatic shutoff?

OSHA mandates auto-shutoffs nationally on both manual and lockable pumps.

[Morning Glory]

How do you know when it's full if there's no automatic shutoff?

OSHA mandates auto-shutoffs nationally on both manual and lockable pumps.

Ok I always use the lever thing but I watch it closely because I had it fail one time. As someone with Reynauds i would be very upset about having to hold the handle down the whole time in cold weather. I've never checked to see if I could manually overfill the tank but I'm glad there's some safety mechanism there to prevent it.

[Siebrie]

What a fun and unexpected discussion!
Yes, the nozzle has a lock so you don't have to squeeze it all the time, and an automatic turn-off. There's just nothing more to do, so you will watch the screen, just because it's a moving image. By the time you realise you're annoyed and don't want to watch it, your tank is full.

[GuitarStv]

By the time you realise you're annoyed and don't want to watch it, your tank is full.

And the eggs of marketing have been laid deep within your psyche, ready to burst out of your chest in a bloody explosion of consumerism at some undetermined time later.

[Daley]

By the time you realise you're annoyed and don't want to watch it, your tank is full.

Check, please!

[crocheted_stache]

If you've ever wondered how gas nozzles "know" when to shut off: https://youtu.be/fT2KhJ8W-Kg?si=9YzfkOT5LjItZo6N

[glacio09]

I still cringe every time I get out of my car for gas to hear a shouty lady on the pump encouraging me to step inside for a donut and a pack of smokes

There's usually 8 unmarked buttons around the screen, 4 on each side. The second one down on the right is the mute button.

I stopped at a pump where someone had written "mute" with a marker next to it and I've tried it on every one since then, always works.

OMG, if this works you are my hero.  I actually want to fill up my car now just to see if I can mute the sound at the pump.  Unfortunately I fill up the car so infrequently I'm going to forget this trick - it might be worth putting a sticky note on the dash board until it becomes a habit.

Once you know to look for it, a lot of pumps have that button marked in some way. People have put an X on it, or it's worn different to the rest. It definitely makes it easier.

[Siebrie]

I don't know which buttons you mean; there aren't any:

[zolotiyeruki]

Re: Walgreens

I wonder if there will suddenly be a large quantity of large, high-defonition, inexpensive surplus displays available in the near future. I could use an upgrade....