Working in the ad industry, I'd say yeah, people do, especially the Captivate screens in elevators. People, generally, try to avoid eye contact in elevators and, when given a choice, opt to stare at a screen that feeds them 15-20 second messages, rather than the floor. It's interesting to actually see how people's heads turn when they come into elevators equipped with Captivate vs ones that don't. It's the same reason people fish out their phones to "check" email or whatever. Subconsciously, they'll do anything to avoid making eye contact.

The idea of a captive audience is very appealing to an advertiser, even if it involves silly gimmicks. Billboards during rush hour, movie theater ads, airplane seat-back TVs, gas station and elevator screens all benefit from the audience's lack of options and their near total attention. I can see how this would be a "novelty" thing, but then again, if the ad is done well and gets a chuckle or a "huh I didn't know that" out of the person, it has done its job.