Brand poison
The New Scientist reports that Philips has applied for a patent to force viewers to watch TV ads. The technology would disable TV controls while the ads played in live or recorded programming.
Philips suggests adding flags to commercial breaks to stop a viewer from changing channels until the adverts are over. The flags could also be recognised by digital video recorders, which would then disable the fast forward control while the ads are playing.
Philips’ patent acknowledges that this may be “greatly resented by viewers” who could initially think their equipment has gone wrong. So it suggests the new system could throw up a warning on screen when it is enforcing advert viewing. The patent also suggests that the system could offer viewers the chance to pay a fee interactively to go back to skipping adverts.
If your brand intent is to make customers less free, insult them in the process, and take their money, your brand is officially DOA.
If Philips were smart they would assign this patent to EFF or Creative Commons on the condition that it only be acted upon to prevent similar idiocies from being pursued. That might snatch a win-win from the mouth of unmitigated disaster.
