As the cop cars and the ambulances surrounded the traffic collision I began to think about how much that advertising on the side of the truck had changed from neutral to negative in a split second.

I say neutral because, usually advertising on a side of a truck isn’t noticed all too much. As we drive through the highway, we sometimes pay attention to the billboards on the side of the road, and listen to advertisements via the radio. However, we never seem to pay too much attention to the advertisements that are on our fellow highway travelers. That is because in the hectic nature of listening to the radio, talking on the cell phone, chatting away with passengers, etc. all while trying to switch lanes, merge, speed up, slow down, watch for cops, look for your exit etc. you don’t want to possibly be looking at advertising that is on the side of a semi.

However, when you do look at that side of a semi-truck you do not associate the truck with a negative experience. Unless you are most people…

Most people just zip by semi trucks and would rather not have them on the road. However, negative experiences on the road (as common as they are) can lead to you having ill-will towards a corporation. Anything from a truck going “too slow”, cutting you off, hitting you (anything that may happen on the road) can translate into you looking up at that truck and see that huge LOGO on the side. Then bam, there is a negative experience with your company. This may not be enough for your company to be thrown out of an evoked set, but nevertheless the little things in life do count. And those little experiences add up.

So when a corporation is showing off their truck with a giant logo, that just so happens to be on the side of the road surrounded by ambulances and cop cars, then think about how the major corporation could have spent its money on a billboard or a radio advertisement to reach you while you are driving, but instead spent their money on an advertisement that is going to cut you off or even worse hit you.