Driving out of Sydney and into the Illawarra, the Princes Highway – like all other highways around the nation – is lined with billboards advertising fast food, radio stations, fast food, phones and fast food. As travellers zip past in their cars, large, often-garish and attention-grabbing signs suggest everything is for sale.
We’ve become so used to these eyesores that most of us don’t even notice them anymore. But some people are challenging that. As we reported recently, Gwenaëlle Gobé’s film This Space Available calls outdoor advertising “visual pollution” and seeks to refute the notion that we are mere consumers. It follows moves by the Brazilian city of São Paulo, which has banned billboards.
