Today, the things we can do with technology are amazing. With a single click, someone can send an email to four different people in four different countries. We can call each other from almost anywhere. In the news, I read amazing stories about new developments every day. Just today, for example, I read about a man who crashed his motorbike and broke his face, and in order to fix it doctors used a 3D printer to reconstruct his facial parts. This is incredible. There are similar stories about amputees who can be fitted with robotic limbs with nearly human function. In the face of this transformative technology, why do we still use billboards for advertising?
A billboard encouraging people to run outdoors. Ironic, since there is a mountain right behind it where people run everyday.
Driving to the airport over the Bay Bridge on my way to leave California and return to Edinburgh, I looked out over the bay to take in the beauty of the landscape one last time before my four month absence. The bay stretches wide on either side of the bridge, dotted with sailboats, the occasional ferry, some freighters, and small islands: Angel Island, Alcatraz, and others. I noticed, however, as I have many times before, that my view of the world was partially blocked by billboards. These large and intrusive advertisements stand in the way of the landscape which, even in cities and towns, could otherwise be beautiful. From the Oakland Hills, where I live, you can see the entire bay, the Golden Gate and Bay Bridges, much of Oakland and Berkeley, and the trees and houses standing on the hillside above it. At least, you can when it isn't foggy. There is only one other thing which is always visible, fog or not: a massive, electronic billboard set just after the tollbooth on the way to the Bay Bridge. I can literally see it from as far away as the hills, which, for those of you who haven't been, is miles and miles away. The billboard is bright and constantly changing, its gaudy lighting interrupting the otherwise peaceful image of the Bay Area at nightfall. The same is true across the globe. Billboards are now a common sight everywhere. They cover up nature, obscuring trees and hills. There are organizations meant to help “bring city kids to nature.” In the bay area, for example, we have “Children in Nature Collaborative” (http://www.cincbayarea.org/). Maybe if we didn't hide nature so successfully behind city ornaments, city kids wouldn't see nature as such a foreign entity.
There are many different types of billboard: digital, inflatable, mobile, and more. Some people see billboards as works of art, especially those that are placed on the sides of buildings rather than on free standing posts. Building side billboards can be made in such a way as to incorporate parts of the building into the board, for example using the windows as eyes on the billboard. Others see billboards as visual and environmental hazards. Some, such as the Scenic America group (which works to enhance the scenic character of America), say that too many trees are being cleared to make space for billboards, while others say that the distracting bright lights and colors on billboards make them a hazard as they take drivers' focus off the roads. Even if they don't distract drivers, drivers aren't likely to remember billboards after quickly passing them, unless there is heavy traffic. All of these are valid concerns, and have in fact led to the creation of many acts limiting billboard use. In 1965 in the US, the Highway Beautification Act was made a law. This act limited billboards to industrial and commercial zones set out by the states. Further, four states – Alaska, Hawaii, Maine, and Vermont – have prohibited billboards. They did so years ago; according to Wikipedia, Alaska outlawed billboards in 1959, Hawaii in1927, Maine in 1979, and Vermont in 1968. If they took that step, so can any other state or country.
multiple billboards over the highway
I think, however, that in addition to billboards being a blight to the landscape, they have also had their run. Their time is up. This is an age of technological revolution. Books and newspapers are slowly being taken over by websites and kindles, so why do we still rely on giant metal boards for advertising? With the amount of TV people watch everyday, logically advertisements will spread more quickly in a commercial than on a billboard, and, more importantly, the message could spread further. The ratio of people who watch the same commercial must be higher than the ratio of people who drive past a certain billboard. Further, people are more likely to remember the advertisement in a commercial because it comes with the irritating little jingle which serves as background music and stays in your head for weeks. There are so many reasons to get rid of billboards, and many states and countries have banned them already. Why can't we all step away from this archaic tradition and use our increasing technology to create a billboard free world? Billboards are the advertising of the past. Today's advertising is, like many things, done mainly through electronic media. Have you ever noticed that if you do a google search on something, there are often ads on the side for something else you recently searched? The internet can now track your actions and tailor the ads you see to what you are most likely to be attracted to. As we are getting smarter, so too are advertisements. We as individuals are being targeted by ads tailor made to suit our interests. Billboards have no place in a world with such advanced advertising.
In a sense, this is a good thing, because maybe we can finally get rid of the billboards marring our world. On the other hand, this new, 'smart' advertising is promoting a problem already inherent in our society: consumerism. Targeting the individual with an ad of particular interest to them only increases the likelihood of them purchasing whatever was being advertised. By inundating people with the temptation to buy more stuff, we as a society are encouraging reckless consumption. This is one of the greatest challenges we face in the 20th century because neither the people nor the government have done much to slow or stop the problem. We are starting to spread the message that there is a problem, which is the first step to reform, but as yet we have not taken action. Eddie Vedder's song “society” sums it up fairly well. He berates how materialistic society has become, saying:
“you think you have to want more than you need/Until you have it all you won't be free”
and
“I think I need to find a bigger place/'Cause when you have more than you think/You need more space.”
I don't presume to know exactly what he meant by that, but I interpret his lyrics to mean that our collecting of useless things and constant buying is going to fill the world with trash, and eventually all the stuff we have won't fit on the earth anymore. Our world will essentially become a trash heap because we were unable to control our gluttonous desire for the newest ipod or that sweater which just became fashionable. Consumerism has become a lifestyle, and will therefore be extremely difficult to change. We can do it, though. It will just take perseverance and cooperation between all levels of society. If we start now, maybe we can turn the cycle of consumption around before our greed consumes us. A first step would be to ban billboards, which feed into our voracious and constant need fore more. Maybe if we can eradicate the billboard, we will notice our world a little bit more, and our desire a little bit less.
For those of you who are interested in hearing the Eddie Vedder song I mentioned, here is a link:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cy6iwP9Ux3A