Good Taste: Streetcars as Billboards

[ablarc]

GOOD TASTE: Streetcars as Billboards


Hong Kong has almost the population of New York City without the buildable land area. Consequently, everything in Honk Kong is high rise:

Including the streetcars:

And the buses:

These tall streetcars make pretty good rolling billboards:

And they blend nicely with the overall horror vacui of the Hong Kong townscape:

A sign among signs:

When it comes to advertising in the city, nothing beats streetcars for visibility. They have discovered that also in Lisbon and in Rome, and they have taken it a step further. In Lisbon, the entire streetcar, being air-conditioned is billboard, windows and all:

Of course you can still see out, through millions of tiny perforations. Even the driver can see out:

A sampling of billboards:

The idea has been around for a while in Lisbon. Here is Coke:

And here is Pepsi:

Here are two from Rome. Which is better: with advertising?…

…or without?:

Some places in the city, it makes sense to soft-pedal good taste. Here, imo, is another such place:

http://www.cyburbia.org/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=9821

 

[The Irish One]

I think advertising on the street cars adds excitement or eye candy for the view in the streetscape. I do like some of the noncommercial looks. If an artist had money (LOL) they might be able to buy the space to advertise their artwork for a local gallery or in the future when the surface of the vehicle is an electronic screen, companies will show movie trailers and general commercials will be aired off the side of the vehicle.

 

[Rumpy Tunanator]

Its not a bad idea seeing how buses do it already. I have yet to see it happen here on the trains, although it probally isn't feasable, seing how half the line is underground. But whats inside; I know on the buses and trains the have advertisment in the transport moduole.

I really like those double decker train cars though.

 

[H]

I actually like it. The buses do it here. I would much rather look at vivid product colors or some cute girl selling cola plastered across a bus than just a plain dull bus (or streetcar in your case). :-S

 

[Tranplanner]

Toronto has a few "wrapped" streetcars. They only tend to appear in the summer months. We don't have double deckers, but we do have articulated streetcars, which look quite good when decked out. Some schemes are better than others. I don't have any pics myself, but here are a few taken from the Transit Toronto website.

 

[Wannaplan?]

I personally get tired of the ubiquity of advertising. I don't neccessarily find it aesthetically pleasing at all. The "message" gets old and tiresome. When I was last in San Francisco back in 1999, I ordered a cola at a restaurant and all they said they had was RC. Not Pepsi. Not Coca-Cola. I couldn't help but feel welcome at that restaurant! I will never forget that. I would like to see RC Cola or Faygo Pop or Made Rite Chips advertised here on some buses in Michigan.

 

[Seabishop]

Maybe I should offer companies the right to wrap my Chevy Lumina in advertisements for $10,000 a year. That way I could renew my APA subscription and join a division!

I think the ads are annoying but they're a better alternatives than traditional billboards. At least the transit authority makes money and some beat up buses look better covered up. I think the complete wraps look freaky when you can't see the windows. It doesn't bother me as much as the renaming of local institutions.

 

[SkeLeton]

The subway in Santiago has trains with ads on the exterior... personally I find it useless, because everybody wants to get on the subway, rather than looking at the ads in the trains... Though it may be more usefull for the trains that run in the elevated line.

Buses here are also carrying ads now.. and that's in any major city here.

 

[Tranplanner]

Maybe I should offer companies the right to wrap my Chevy Lumina in advertisements for $10,000 a year.

I believe there actually are some companies that do that. I seem to recall hearing that car owners got 2-3K a year out of it.

 

[The Irish One]

OT

Faygo Pop

I just discovered this soda but have yet to try it.

On topic

Some ads are definately better than others and I don't notice a lot of the buses around here that have the full body wrap. Also, some street cars will look better with a traditional facade because the design is nice or the character of the the community it's in, maybe the community has a historic appeal or something like that.

 

[ludes98]

Buses here do it and I have no problem with it. They have talked about expanding the practice to other government vehicles, and I do not support that move. I just can't see police cars with taxicab looking ads. How would you like to do site visits in a city vehicle wrapped with an Exlax, Tampax, or Trojan ad?

 

[donk]

I believe there actually are some companies that do that. I seem to recall hearing that car owners got 2-3K a year out of it.

[OT]

Right you are

From an article

http://www.autowraps.com/driver_programs.html
http://www.wrapyourauto.com/

[/OT]

 

[The Irish One]

I just can't see police cars with taxicab looking ads.

Agreed, I can't see any emergency service/ public safety vehicle advertising anything but that they're an emergency service/ public safety vehicle. How abut DoT vehicles?

 

[jresta]

double decker trolleys . . . that's off the hook.

We have lots of panel advertising on the buses here but i think SEPTA's rule is that they'll only "wrap" 5% of the fleet at any one time. None of our trolleys or El trains are wrapped.

Personally, as a transit rider, i'd rather see the ads on the outside of the bus than to be bombarded by the ads on the inside.

PATCO, that has a long standing ban on interior advertising, set up a series of stationary ads in one of their tunnels so that when the train passes it by it 40 mph it appears as a cartoon in your window. It's really neat but also pretty shameless.

advertising is not public art. The hong kong situation is eye-catching in that Times Square kind of way but after a few days it's just offensive.

 

[ablarc]

Offensive advertising

I think billboards are offensive, as they appear in most cities. Unlike streetcars, they don't have the manners to go away after a while.

 

[SlaveToTheGrind]

If someone were to ask me were photos 12-16 (which I believe are in Lisbon) were taken, I would have to say Leningrad (when I was there), now St. Petersburg, or even Helsinki. Interesting photos. I'd rather see the bus/streetcar billboards than those on buildings.