City
Batman ad creep is a bit of a bummer
Without realizing it, you might have taken Bruce Wayne Manor or Gotham City Boulevard to work today thanks to some strategic marketing work by Warner Bros. Canada. Two official-looking Batman branded street signs appeared last week at two downtown intersections, renaming (or perhaps subtitling) King and York streets in honour of the caped crusader ahead of the release of The Dark Knight Rises, the latest movie in the lucrative franchise.
Warner Bros. confirmed it received permission to install the signs on King and Front streets — something it did before for the final Harry Potter movie — as part of the promotional work for its summer blockbuster. Fans of the movie are supposed to send photographs of the signs to a local radio station in the hopes of winning tickets to an advanced screening and promotional masquerade ball.
The signs are set to come down on July 20, but in the meantime is this really appropriate use of public space? There's enough ad creep in the city as it is, what with the new info pillars giving over substantial space to advertisers, streetcars wrapped in full banners, and the hideous idea of selling sponsorship rights to subway stations that surfaced last year.
It's also worth noting that these signs were manufactured and installed — for a fee — by the City of Toronto. Even though Warner Bros. were invoiced for the full amount, is this a service we should be offering to anyone with enough cash? The precedence this sets, — at least in theory — is that companies with big enough budgets have the city's blessing to brand our streets in accordance with whatever product they're selling.
So, at the risk of sounding completely joyless over a couple of crafty signs for a movie that I'm actually quite excited about, I wonder if we should be rethinking the type of ads we allow in Toronto? A few years back, the citizens of Sao Paulo, Brazil deep-sixed almost all outdoor advertising on their city's streets. It's obviously unrealistic to suggest we do the same — we pocket cash from the billboard tax after all — but maybe we should stop short of co-opting our street signs for marketing purposes?
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Who cares. They city made some money. If they paid for the workers to print/install it, the city made some cash off of it. I'm all for the branding of the city if it lowers my taxes or keeps some city parks and pools open.
@OP: Yes, I this IS a service the city should be offering for the right amount of cash. I don't see how a faux street sign is any different than a poster at a TTC stop or subway station, a streetcar wrapped in advertising, or... oh wait, you hate that stuff too. Well suck it up, advertising = revenue.
"...these signs were manufactured and installed — for a fee — by the City of Toronto."
It then goes on to say that Warner Bros. were invoiced for the full amount.
No gravy here, bro.
What we need to do is full on outright ban this type and style along with all outdoor billboard kind of advertising sort of like how the City of Oakville does.
Allowing only TTC property to be placement and the TTC system and TTC vehicles, with all $$$ going directly to support and build out a fantastic network for all to use totally free of any fares.
That is the magic, that is the vision, no who has the guts and influence to peddle to make it really happen?
Could you imagine a clutter free ad free city with the most fantastic transit system on the planet at NO COST to all rides?
Sounds like heaven right?
WE CAN, do it. Let's try :)
ENB..//
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Castle_Frank_(TTC)#History:"Castle Frank Station, opened in 1966, is named after the community that it serves. Its streets, and the brook that flows through it, are in turn named after Sir John Graves Simcoe's summer residence in that area overlooking the Don River, which burned down in 1829. "
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Runnymede,_Toronto:";The name Runnymede originates with the estate of John Scarlett, an early land owner in the area."
duhhhhhh
If you don't know who Joe Shuster is, well he was a mild mannered cartoonist who co-created a fictional character from another planet with powers beyond those of mortal men.
"anyone with enough cash" = bad
"anyone with a spraycan" = good
That's CUPE 79: Taking Care of Toronto
At a human level, advertising and marketing have provided good jobs for many creative and talented young people working in this city. Obviously this particular marketing tactic was dreamt up somewhere else, by an agency or agencies employed by Warner Bros, but I am just making the point that advertising and marketing are not the terrible evils that some would have us believe. There is a human side to it. For every advertising executive, there are many more young thinkers and graphic artists employed in this field.
Furthermore, even if this was dreamt up somewhere else, it has created a tiny bit of extra paid work for people here in Toronto, in manufacturing and installing the temporary signage. Every little bit helps. Why complain when you can look at it like this?
I see only few negatives and a lot of positives about all of this. Just my two cents!