TSA Plans to Sell Ad Space

The Transportation Security Administration was created to keep aviation a safer mode of transportation. How do ads on security bins figure into this?

I'm confused. The Transportation Security Administration is ostensibly here to protect us during air travel, right? After all, we're all willing to forgo a little comfort in the name of safe aviation. Biometric passports, the shoes coming off, the solid shampoos or mini shampoo bottles on carry-on bags, and occasional close examinations of our laptops are all tolerable inconveniences when we understand the reasoning behind them (snow globe confiscation, not so much).

That being said, I was surprised to learn that the TSA is test-running selling ad space on the X-ray bins at airports. Huh? How does selling ad space contribute the the safety of the skies? According to this link at Aviation Now, the pilot program has already started in Los Angeles. It doesn't specify that the test run of ad space on bins is at LAX, but I didn't notice them while standing on the security line there on a December '06 trip. Perhaps the ads on bins started in January '07. In any case, what's troubling about this is the message it sends. Has the TSA sold out, or does it truly need the cash? And, if the TSA is so broke that it needs supplemental funds from advertisers, how far will they go? Will we passengers be forced to load our sneakers and backpacks onto visions of GoldenNugget.com, fast food chains and Coca-cola? Please. Some of us travel to take a vacation from the constant inundation of advertisements that flood our senses.

The dystopian worldview of futuristic novels and movies like Bladerunner feature public spaces overwhelmed by commercials and ads. If the TSA follows through with this pilot program, we'll be one step closer to that imagined world ruled by capitalism run amok. Let's hope that this is one idea the TSA decides to end before it begins.

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