The store environment is heating up as more and more companies put their promotional dollars into point-ofpurchase efforts. Some stores confront shoppers with videos at the checkout counter, computer monitors attached to their shopping carts, and ads stenciled on the floors. We’re also increasingly exposed to ads in nonshopping environments. A health club in New York was forced to remove TV monitors that showed advertising on the Health Club Media Networks, after exercisers claimed that the programming interfered with their workouts. Do you feel that these innovations are overly intrusive? At what point might shoppers rebel and demand some peace and quiet when they shop? Do you see any market potential in the future for stores that “countermarket” by promising a

“hands-off” shopping environment?