A New Nightmare Has Arrived: '3D' Animated Advertisements on Trucks in Traffic

      LED Truck Media

      The latest in automotive news and reviews, no nonsense.

      A digital advertising company is rolling out a new feature for trucks that display illuminated ads on their sides (also referred to as mobile billboards). Utilizing advanced LED panels and other technologies, they can now produce three-dimensional effects that are meant to appear “indistinguishable from reality.”

      I’m sharing this in hopes that someone with the authority to ban it feels as strongly as I do about it and takes steps to make it illegal.

      If you're not aware, 3D billboards are popular in major urban areas where aggressive building-side advertising essentially contributes to local culture (think places like Times Square in New York City). Using visual tricks and forced-perspective designs, they create eye-catching effects, such as images that seem to burst from the billboard into the real world. This technique is called anamorphic imagery. A quick look at this Marvel sizzle reel showcasing Spider-Man video game billboards illustrates what I mean:

      Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 3D Billboards Around the World

      From a technological standpoint, they are undeniably impressive. Artistically, they are quite interesting, and they are definitely effective—it's hard to pass a billboard that appears to leap out from the wall without being intrigued. This is precisely why having them on moving vehicles seems like a terrible (and potentially dangerous) idea.

      The thought of streets resembling Mario Kart courses with animated images floating around is amusing, but I cannot emphasize enough how much I do not want to see products zipping (virtually) at me while I navigate the city.

      I stumbled upon this information yesterday while browsing the internet and came across Sixteen Nine Powered By Invidis, a trade publication focused on digital signage. A company called LED Truck Media has equipped a vehicle with curved screens and light-emitting panels to bring a striking anamorphic effect to the streets.

      “We’ve outfitted this next-gen truck with ultra-high-definition LED panels that provide industry-leading brightness and color depth, ensuring 3D visuals remain vibrant even in broad daylight,” Invidis cites CEO Jonnathan Trilleras. “With a fine pixel pitch, high refresh rate, and a curved-screen design, we create a wider viewing angle that makes anamorphic content appear indistinguishable from reality.”

      Really? 3D ads that resemble actual objects on the road? There is no scenario where that sounds like a good idea. Someone, please put a stop to this.

      Have an argument for why these are beneficial? Feel free to email me at andrew.collins@thedrive.com, but I can't guarantee that I will read it.