Running Shoe Ad Running Shoes

Running shoes have become overpriced status symbols for an undereducated public, built in 3rd world slave labor factories and sold at astronomical markups, and people pay these prices while adorning themselves with advertising for companies. Why do so many people pay such outrageous prices for shoes? Because the advertisements build an aura of mystique around the shoes.

The next step is a blend of high-tech and clever marketing: Running shoes that display ads for themselves while you wear them.

The shell of the shoe will be constructed, not with exotic materials like naugahyde, but instead with a flexible liquid crystal display. Power will be provided by rechargeable batteries located in the sole, along with the electronics. The batteries will be charged with the kinetic energy put into the shoe by the athlete through a set of coils in the heel that will move in a fixed magnetic field.

They will be programmable, so aftermarket sales will include “skins” for the shoes. Intense target marketing will insure that nobody will want to be seen with last week’s shoe ad. A hacker subculture may emerge with customized skins for people who don’t want be walking shoe company billboards.