My local grocery store has upgraded their kid-friendly shopping carts to TV Karts. Talk about making your product it’s own advertising. The cart looks like a car so toddlers feel like they are driving. The cart has two screens. One shows your little one an episode of a favorite TV show – we prefer Dora the Explorer. The other shows the adult commercials for grocery store products along with buttons to push for more information. At one point during our short shopping trip today, the screen flashed a store directory but I couldn’t get back to that screen on my own later. The cart also includes a drink holder which fits in nicely with the Starbucks located inside my Safeway. I may never leave. Brilliant!
If these carts stay a free service, great. However, I fear that in six months or so, I will be inserting quarters into the TVKart to use it. I am hoping that the advertisers who are getting space through the adult screen will be the ones who foot the cost.