Commercial camouflauge

Every morning when I read the daily newspaper that I subscribe to, I always find various other printed sheets that I do haven't subscribed to

Commercial camouflauge

Every morning when I read the daily newspaper that I subscribe to, I always find various other printed sheets that I do haven't subscribed to. These just attach themselves to the main paper like thorny clinging weed-seed which often attach themselves to one's pants if you walk through high grass.

It is rather annoying to dispose of them when you realise they are there, clinging to your clothes. But that is 'bio-dispersion', or nature's easy way of spreading a species around. Now small advertisers and pizzerias have found that a similar tactic works for them the newspaper insert which costs nothing. I don't know how much 'good publicity' it generates. Speaking for myself, it infuriates me, slipping out before I can even get to the headlines!

We all recall Bangalore as the garden city with tree-lined roads. Now every road for miles around is adorned with gate boards, advertising insurance ads, banking service ads and so on.

They are attached to gates, and carry a near invisible sign, NO PARKING, lost among the unpaid advertising messages. Usually, gate owners can't be bothered with removing them (they are firmly secured with thick wire.)
But sometimes the gate owners resort to revenge games like painting out the advertisers message and leaving only the NO PARKING message.

Another kind of double piggy-backing is the handbills and movie mini-posters which are stuck over the NO PARKING ad-boards.

Of course it is a time-honoured custom to stick these cheap messy posters on road turning signs 'uglifying' the town and making navigation impossible.

Of course the new GPS enabled mobile phoes will help to locate destinations (though, frankly, I don't know exactly how).

But getting on to the 'No Parking' signboards on every gate, it's even worse on tree trunks. For a while, there used to be neatly printed metal plates, nailed to the tree trunk. But these were too easily removed as infuriated tree lovers detached them (and often sold them as scrap metal).

Now the cheapies have created the disposable tree poster ink jet printouts in polythene covers nailed to tree trunks. On evening the neighbourhood kids saw me ripping off one of these. 'Why are you spoiling that tree, uncle?' they chorused.

I explained that I was not spoiling the tree, but saving it from vandalism. This gave them a new game to play.

So, next day instead of playing catch, they were busy cleaning up the neighbourhood.

Advertising agents have a tough time. But they always find a way. Have you heard of such a thing as 'Surrogate Advertising.' When promoting a product (like alcohol), which is not permitted by law, you keep the brand prominent and camouflage the rest. So, one sees expensive multi-coloured ads for cologne, cocktail glasses or even just bottled water.u00a0

The weed-seed newspaper inserts are fast losing any credibility and merely generates 'bad' publicity and irritation these days.

Yes, they however do add a few micrograms of weight to the other newsprint junk which is best sold to the local raddi wala.