Putting a Certain Finger in the Upright and Locked Position

That’s my reaction to the abomination I encountered for the first time flying around the USA this week: ads on tray tables. I challenge anyone to support this move, which resulted, on my flight, not in a hoisted middle finger (that’s l’esprit d’escalier talking) but in my trembling hands folding up the offending plastic platform and holding my drink myself. Which, after all, I have every right to do. The TV obscenity principle — if you don’t like it, just turn it off — extends, I presume, to advertising? We’re to be thankful, I presume, that the ads are placed on something we can hide from ourselves? Well, just wait: if you don’t like the ads of the future, placed directly on the seat back in front of you, you can always just close your eyes. This will work for the ads on your oxygen mask, too.