I have been in Shanghai for over 12 years now. In addition to the proliferation of tall buildings, subway lines, highways and overall incredible improvements in infrastructure, there has come a proliferation of media, especially in places where, to be frank, I would rather not see media. As the marketing 2.0 pundits would put it, there ARE lots of 'interruptions' in the daily life of Shanghai citizens. Below are just a few I have collected in recent months. Some come from my own camera; others come from pic searches on google.

The urinal advertising is common (though certainly not unique to China). One of the original examples of "captive" advertising.

Get in a taxi in Shanghai, and you will most likely be greeted with a video touch screen. No way to turn them off, and although there is a mute button, it rarely works. Worse than the Focus Media screens in elevators and office buildings, you have to watch these for the length of a taxi ride which for me is usually 15-20 mins.

Go to Shanghai's Gubei Carrefour. Put your hand down on the escalator hand rail, there's advertising. This pic is not actually from there, but you get the picture.

It is said that the average American consumer is exposed to 3000 marketing messages a day (I have yet to find a reference for this stat, but everyone quotes it). Walk down Huai Hai road or through Xu Jia Hui district in Shanghai, and get exposed to that many in about 20 seconds. This pic is from Hong Kong Plaza computer market on Huai Hai road. Do you see the HP ad? If so, does it make any impact on you? Are you going to even remember it?

Grab your bags in Beijing and you gotta see ads. Fortunately, it seems this has been removed, at least as of my last trip.

This is the latest new type of media I have seen. At a restaurant, if you want to call the waitress, instead of yelling "xiao jie," just push the button on the left to automatically call her. Such an apparatus does, actually, make the restaurant more quiet with fewer voices yelling "小姐!" for the waitress so this media wins the award as actually providing some value. However, this "value" does not outweigh the "pollution" of a 51job advert as I enjoy my curry rice.

See that beautiful skyline of Pudong across the Huangpu river? Now see that ugly boat with the big screen? I really hate this one. (Pic taken from "that's China" blog)

This "light box" wins my personal award for the most hated media because it is inside my apartment compound. The ugly poster ads in my elevator are bad...but this really irks me. At every exit of the compound I am greeted by Marie France slimming salon centers model. Since I own my apartment, shouldn't I get paid for having to view it? Our management office is definitely getting paid, why shouldn't I? I definitely had voice in this decision. When I complained, the management office said that other residents like it because it has a "mosquito light" at the bottom. Feel free to join me on my boycott of Marie France.

The truth is, for the most part, these media are effective in creating greater awareness for the advertisers that use them (except perhaps HP on Huai Hai Road). In some cases, this may be all the advertisers want or need. Ultimately, however, I think advertisers would do well to shift some of the energy being used to find new media outlets to grab attention to creating better products and experiences which make their customers talk about them and recommend them. As the world becomes "noisier and noisier," awareness is necessary, but not sufficient information for making a purchase decision.