Battle Of The Billboards
Call them traffic hazards, skyline obstructions, or inordinate city décor, testosterone boosters, aberrations, call them whatever you want to because whatever you do, you can’t help but notice them. Too big to ignore yet too static to be fully appreciated, billboards are fast becoming the medium of choice among advertisers. There’s one every ten meters; some standing alone but mostly in clusters so daunting you almost experience reverse – vertigo every time you glance out of your car window.
Major roads and highways are brightly-lit temple to retail and commercialism. Usually in every billboard spot, apparel brands abound, far outnumbering the images for consumer products and bank promos. Few years ago, highways were not as cluttered with this large-scale out-of-home propaganda as it is now. The proliferation of malls and the restaurant boom, however, have given consumers activity options that take them out of their homes and into the streets. Lifestyle of the people is fast changing; more people are more inclined to travel out of their homes – to their office, schools, and groceries. The increase in consumers’ travel time as opposed to their home hours has prompted advertisers to go to the streets as well. It’s also out-of-home media’s advantage that billboard advertising costs significantly less than the more traditional forms such as television and radios. TV ads may dish out more brain food, but billboards subtly target the subconscious.
Advertisers, realizing the limited creativity a billboard allows, just bank on their endorsers to get ahead of one another. The billboards all display one image: a woman who is not necessarily traditionally beautiful, but definitely well-known. In a celebrity-driven society, local brands are now relying on a single criterion in choosing their endorsers, popularity. To sell their merchandise, companies have all engaged the faces off personalities visible in the society – and all over the world.
Billboards and pretty face have always been a surefire combination. A glimpse at the large board may not inspire a mad rush to the boutique, but they are successful enough to tell the public if a company is making enough money to keep with the competition. At best, billboards and endorsers are image enhancers. Much like trophies, they are display material that encourages curiosity about a certain brand. At the very least, they keep our car rides interesting.