Aural Invasion!

I guess any normal human being would find it unusual to see more than one blog entries in a single day, not to mention 3! I guess I have a lot to say today!

While I was on my way home immediately after my booking out, I ran into something that rather annoyed me on Friday night: The MRT intercom was playing an advertisement advocating courtesy.

In fact, I was sleeping when it happened: Two men talking over the intercom. Initially, I thought that it was just a mistake by the driver (you know, the kind when people accidentally press the wrong button and broadcast their private conversations), and tried to sleep. Then after a while, it happened again. Irritated, I listened carefully, only to discover that it was a courtesy message by SMRT. How ironic. Does disturbing me in my private moment count as being courteous?

Also, this points to a trend of aural invasion, even as we are inundated by the flood of visual stimulus around us. No longer are we only subjected blatant television advertisments on buses and trains, now we are about to lose our peace of mind; one can shut off his eyes, but ear plugs are hardly useful in covering out these sounds (one can still hear it through the ear plugs).

What's next? Advertisements which overload your taste buds? How about some McNuggets which taste like coffee to promote StarBucks?