Apart from when they play South African sports teams, Australians don't often feel to threatened. Even the seedy parts of their big cities have new-born lambs bounding happily in the streets, nibbling quietly on lush trailer park lawns.
So you can imagine their surprise when bus spots start sending out invited Bluetooth stalker messages to public transport users to promote the new series of Big Brother on Australian TV.
The campaign installed Blue-tooth transmitters in over 20 high-traffic bus shelters around town. The transmitters automatically sent two anonymous messages to any Bluetooth enabled phones in the area.
The first message was tailored specifically for the local location, with something along the lines of “I'm watching u. Ur at the (customized current location)”. The second message is received 30-40 seconds later with the big reveal, saying “Big Brother is back. 7 PM weeknights on TEN”.
Clearly there are no laws against spamming via Bluetooth in Australia [then again, are there such laws here?], but a strong concept all the same if you're not irritating people.
On this note: is it possible to send text messages via blue-tooth from your handset?
I think it is quite a cleaver idea, but maybe the BB message should be a part of the same message.
Posted by: Jonathan Peel | May 14, 2008 at 11:32 AM
This would just irritate me, like the direct mail that camouflages itself as official government mail. Then again, I'm not Australian.
Posted by: Captain Flummox | May 14, 2008 at 05:37 PM