gas station Ontario

People in Ontario angry about latest change at gas pumps and this time it's not the price

While most complaints at gas stations typically revolve around Ontario's sky-high gas prices, the latest round of criticism is aimed at a new feature popping up at pumps across the province. 

In a now-viral Reddit post shared on Wednesday, one resident claimed that gas station company, Esso, is in the process of installing TVs that play advertisements at all of their gas pumps in Ontario. 

Reactions to the displays were mixed, with some noting that they've come across similar features at gas pumps in Quebec and throughout the U.S., while others vowed to completely avoid any stations that include the ad-playing TVs. 

The Reddit thread has amassed over 500 upvotes and nearly 500 comments in under 24 hours. 

Esso is now in the process of installing TVs playing ads in all gas pumps across Ontario
byu/AgreeableSlide8541 inontario

"I honestly don't really care about TVs on pumps, if they want to spend money on that then whatever, I'm not looking at the pump anyways, but the ones that play sound? F*ck that. I'm not spending money there," one person wrote.

"I will use my wallet to voice my disagreement with this by fuelling up wherever these are not," one comment reads. 

Another Reddit user claimed that they've also noticed the TVs at their local Shell station. "I stopped going to my Shell," they wrote. "It wouldn't bother me if it was just visual, but they blast the ad on the speakers so loud it hurts my ears." 

Others thought that customers should receive some type of reward for having to watch the advertisements. 

"That's pretty clever, but also annoying. How about playing those ads and if I agree to watch, it takes a few cents a litre off my bill," one Reddit user suggested. 

blogTO has reached out to Esso for more information on its gas pump TVs.

Lead photo by

JHVEPhoto/Shutterstock


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