Wandsworth has always promoted itself as ‘The Brighter Borough’. 

And right now it wants to be even ‘brighter’ …. with its ambition to place 3 very, very large electronic ‘posters’ at the top of East Hill in order to entertain and educate drivers as they enjoy the grind of the South Circular Road.  Indeed a noble and worthy aim. 

Clearly, as a former ad-chap, I can’t be against the use of posters as such, but they do have to be both intelligently and appropriately sited.  Just as advertisers and their agencies are very sensitive as to which print, digital and broadcast media they buy – so are the audience and the environment  equally crucial.

To my trained eye, such large scale poster sites in this fairly intensive domestic housing area are totally inappropriate. 

Their physical size and visual scale – and extremely intense 24-hours-a-day luminosity – simply do not ‘fit’ the proposed location.  

And the intended positive communication of brand values could well be negated by these ‘in your face/in your windscreen’ sites.

To name but one …. Mr Clooney will look more than a little smug and complacent with his delicate demi-tasse of Nespresso. 

‘It’s alright for him, but I’m stuck behind a 37 bus and assorted giant multi-wheeled supermarket trucks’ may well be the reaction from disgruntled drivers. 

Others will certainly write about ‘driver distraction’, ‘light pollution’ and ‘road safety’. 

Our start point is different – but our goal is the same. 

No electronic/digital posters on East Hill, please.

If our many readers are at all motivated to know more – they should take a look at the Wandsworth Borough Council Planning Application website – 2015/0507.  

See what you think …. and then please say what you think.