I go out of my way to avoid ads in day-to-day life, but on the off occasion when I’m driving down a highway, I’m essentially forced to soak in billboards. It’s terrible and makes me despise the brands that buy that space. But maybe there’s a way for me to not hate ads so much. Maybe e-paper is the answer. Over in Europe, they’re experimenting with massive e-paper displays mounted on the back of trucks. Yes, it’s advertising that hawks a product, but it’s also not backlit and feels nice on the eyes. At least if we’re getting marketed to we can take a load off for a second, you know?

The companies behind these ads says it envisions the billboards changing with the location of the truck to deliver location-specific messages. E-paper doesn’t suck up much power and also doesn’t create light pollution, making it a decent option for ads. I appreciate both those characteristics.

Okay real quick, let’s throwback to when Samsung put displays on the back of trucks but with the intention of letting drivers see what was ahead of them in the road. That was a cool time. Maybe they can do that with e-paper? Heh, probably not.