They’re now “ad blocking” in real life

This morning I saw a small glimpse of the future:

On Twitter, a man posted a video of his experimental tech project. By using AR (augmented reality) glasses and adding his own code, he has managed to block ads in real life.

Which means that if you were to wear his special glasses, you could walk down the street without seeing any ads. So instead of a big billboard detailing the latest GrubHub deal, you’d instead see a glowing red rectangle that says “GrubHub billboard”...

Instead of seeing a woman drinking a can of Coca Cola, you’d see her tipping back a red rectangle that simply says “Coca Cola can”...

While reading the newspaper, instead of seeing an ad for Purina dog food, you’d see a red rectangle that says “Purina advertisement”...

You get the idea.

And while having red glowing rectangles everywhere you look probably doesn’t sound fun, remember that this tech is still young. I have no doubt that as it progresses, you’ll be able to replace ads with anything you want. Pictures of nature… photos of your family… reminders from your to-do list. Anything.

Will this tech ever get popular?

Well, I’m no Mystic Meg. But I daresay if AR glasses ever become lightweight and cheap enough to be adopted by the mainstream… and if this ad-blocking tech becomes as easy to install as browser extensions are now… I think there’s a good chance.

After all, people are getting mighty sick of ads being pushed everywhere they look.

Last year, there were news stories about digital billboards being floated in front of Florida beaches, annoying the beachgoers who just wanted to relax and enjoy nature.

Last month, the Greek government decided to sue after a swarm of drones lit up an Adidas logo in the sky over Athens.

And now, these experimental ad-zapping glasses.

The tide is slowly turning against traditional advertising. People are doing everything they can to escape it, ignore it, and filter it out.

Which is why I shake my head when I see so many pet brands going out of their way to make their emails look as much like advertising billboards as possible. With huge images, cuh-raaazy superlatives, and promises of huge diss-counts.

If you’re going to do that, you may as well make all your email subject lines simply say:

“This is an advertisement, PLEASE ignore me.”

But – you may ask – isn’t that what every pet brand is doing with their emails?

Hell, isn’t that what email marketing IS?

You may be forgiven for thinking so, judging purely by what almost everyone else is doing. But I know of a better way.

A way that you can sell more stuff, by being less salesy.

If you want to discover how, then sign up for my newsletter by clicking the button below.