A Correction - Why A Family Sells Ad Space On Their RV

In the final part of my Short Takes piece last Saturday I mentioned the Illinois family that had put advertising rights on their RV up for auction on eBay. The rights were snapped up by CBS who also hired the family to promote The Amazing Race and the show's move to Sunday night come September at various landmarks and events around the United States. In my article I made the statement that the family - who weren't named in the CBS press release - "thought they'd subsidize their summer vacation by selling ad space on their RV." That was entirely my assumption; again the CBS press release didn't mention the family's motivation in putting the advertising rights up for sale. I received a comment on the piece from Mike Aldrich, the man who actually owns the RV.

Mr. Aldrich stated that his intention in putting the advertising space up for auction was not to subsidize the family vacation but rather to "help with our air time cost for a kids sport highlight show we air in our home town." For getting that wrong I apologize but I suppose it's a natural assumption based on the lack of any explanation from CBS. In fact, Mike's C.I.K. TV (Central Illinois Kids Television) will be going national in the fall using the online service Lasoo On-Demand TV for which I definitely wish him and his family the best of luck.

One other thing that I got wrong, but which can be laid entirely at the feet of CBS is the availability of content that Mike and his family will be producing on their trip. It will not be uploaded to InnerTube but is in fact being prepared for "educational segments for our show." In a way I'm sort of unhappy about this since I for one would like to see the progress of the "Amazing Race Promo-mobile" and the people that they meet across the country. I think it would have been great summer content. I suppose that we'll just have to be satisfied with the Aldritch's C.I.K.TV Blog, which is offering extensive coverage of their trip as well as some photos.

Anyway I thought I'd send along my apologies to Mike and his family for getting it wrong - I'm pretty sure I wasn't the only one who made assumptions about what they were intending when they put the RV advertising rights up for sale.