Billboards are an aesthetic disaster, as much as if not more than abundant wall-chalking that we see all over Karachi.
KARACHI: The write-up on billboards titled “Skin City” in your newspaper was fairly comprehensive in exposing how the whole billboard business works. However, there was nothing in the write-up about the ugliness the countless billboards have created, except for one mention of it as “visual pollution”. To me, and I am sure a lot of other citizens will agree, these billboards are an aesthetic disaster, as much as if not more than the abundant wall-chalking that we see all over Karachi.
While the authorities that rent out billboard spaces obviously have no other consideration than to make money at whatever cost, the blame also falls on the companies who pay for the advertising. Surely, being a party to this crass commercialism at the cost of the city’s outlook is contrary to being socially responsible corporate citizens. I believe that the money the companies spend on these billboards is totally wasted because the overdose of such advertising really does not enhance sales. The simple way for a brand to assess if billboard advertising is doing it any good is to compare sales of the same product, on a per capita basis, between billboard-choked Karachi and the comparatively billboard-free Lahore. Are sales much higher in Karachi because of the billboards? My guess is no.
On the other hand, if these companies spend the same money not on hard sell billboard advertising, but on beautifying the city through building and maintaining public facilities like playgrounds, parks and even public toilets, they will generate far greater public goodwill and preference for their brands. Food for thought.
Zohare Ali Shariff
Published in The Express Tribune, March 11th, 2014.
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