Don’t come to Warsaw! Poland’s capital doesn’t exist any more. Someone has hidden it from us – for good. Here is a unique look at a city covered with a curtain of advertisements.
There was no war, that the world forgot to notice, but Warsaw is gone. Adverts ate it. While city council and residents have given up.
There is a battle in Warsaw again: for every house, for every block, for every street corner, for every look. Those attacking and fighting one another are media houses, advertisement agencies and global brands. See, buy, taste – you’ll be happy.
Should the city be reduced to an advertising pillar – and its inhabitants to consumers?
- ‘They are like cockroaches – you spray them, spray, and they get immune’ – that’s how David Lubars from Omnicom Group talked about consumers and advert.
That’s why it isn’t enough to put adverts to newspapers, on posters, billboards. That’s too little. Too soft. The message needs to be stronger… and best when ad moves through the streets.
That’s why we there are huge tubes of toothpaste, chocolate bars and washing powders driving around the city. Previously these were busses and trams. And you could even see the world through their windows. Now all you can see – more adverts.
Residents are having their windows covered with them. Why would you look out of the window? What could be better to look at then a mega-billboard outside your window in the morning?
There are those who try to protest… They complain they don’t get enough sunlight. The most desperate among them cut holes in huge adverts covering their windows – so that they are able to open windows and let some air in.
But what can an ordinary citizen do confronted with the ultimate argument that “adverts on our building will pay for renovation”…
Warsaw is gone. Instead of coming to Warsaw, you better dig old postcards and photo albums from your closets. Or visit Paris, Berlin. Maybe you can still see something there.
For the ones how can read a bit of Polish – .
Uups, wrong formating. Here it comes again: http://www.miastomojeawnim.pl/blog/
Thanks Martin, I knew this association before, I actually wanted to add a link here, but I lost their address
Bloody hell! I remember it used to be pretty bad a few years back, now it’s gone completely insane!
Totally surreal, it’s like walking around in a giant TV commercial.
Last time I was in Warsaw there were no adverts at all
PS Here, a vision I once found for 20 East.
It’s unbelievable. When they are going to make a huge advertisment in the whole sky? When they are going to stop?
it is a form of corporate graffiti…it can be read as a visual commentary for Poland’s desire to be modern…on the outside we see the new but scratch the surface and undernearth it is a different story…
yeah, it looks really bad, but there is a good side to it. some of those buildings are in a pretty bad shape, and while not all of their owners can reach for government benefits regarding renovation, at least a part (a small percentage i guess but anyways) will be renovated from the money made on the ads.
It’s a complete bloody nightmare. I think one of the worst things Poland did was to give free rein to all the advertising companies. I hope for the day when a law will come into effect banning the use of small, crappy roadside adverts which, quite frankly, are an eye-sore. Bring back nature!
Raf
http://uzar.wordpress.com/
[...] November 19, 2008 · No Comments Warsaw, like I’ve previously documented in Prague and Zagreb, is flush with ads. Wherever you look billboards are shilling bras, movies, soaps, you name it. It seems I’m not the only one to notice the predilection to advertising. This is a translated article from a Warsaw newspaper, plus photos. [...]
I guess that you guys are in need of town planners and regulations to control this overuse of free space.
[...] New regulations in outdoor advertising – Advertising got out of control in many Polish cities in recent years. Huge ads cover many buildings in city centres. Billboards [...]
I feel like I’m in a corporation’s advertising department toilet bowl when I walk around he city nowadays. The visual pollution stinks, bigtime. Thankfully, I read the other day that they are finally going to do something about limiting the size of the adverts. People in opposite buildings to the gi-normous eyesores are complaining of the lights being on all night, etc. I doubt the limits will be too severe though. Fuck, I’d love to douse them in parafin and flick a match. But I guess that would be too dangerous for the residents imprisoned behind them.