Advertisements are coming to the world of Pokémon Go.
This is likely to upset tons of people, seeing as we've all gotten so used to not having to pay for any of our entertainment. The fact that a money-making company would try to make money is abhorrent to us.
Apparently, according to the CEO of Niantic (the company that developed the app), the ad revenue will come in the form of “sponsored locations,” where companies “pay us to be locations within the virtual game board — the premise being that is an inducement that drives foot traffic.”
Now, apart from the fact that he is now the second person in history to actually use the word “inducement” – the first was Shakespeare's more pretentious brother, Phil – this is the world's most effective advertisement model ever.
These companies can literally make people walk into their stores.
There could be a million uses for this. I could get people to go to my extremely poorly attended shows with my band – we're called "The Obamacarebears," by the way – or protest organizers could call in a legion of Pokémon-obsessed citizens to a rally.
Maybe, once these people finish catching their 69th Ratatta, they'd look up and find themselves accidentally taking part in something that actually matters.
