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Guerrilla takes the fight for cleaner streets to a new level

Further to a press release published late last year, where Guerrilla began their clean-up operations around their outdoor sites, the attempt to change people's behaviour and perceptions towards littering in Johannesburg has been taken to a new level.
Guerrilla takes the fight for cleaner streets to a new level
Guerrilla takes the fight for cleaner streets to a new level

Reiterating what was said in the preceding press release: Outdoor advertising by its very nature impacts the urban environment and profits from this impact. Guerrilla IMC believes that the players in this space also have a duty to add a positive impact on the surrounds. In addition the industry is also uniquely positioned to communicate a positive message on a local basis. The first such opportunity to use this position for a good cause has come to fruition with Guerrilla flighting a hard-hitting message to try and curb people's littering habits in and around the entertainment hub of Gleneagles Drive, Greenside and outside Cresta Shopping Centre. The Greenside site in question is not only in a unique position to communicate a brand's proposition with people of ranging ages when they are out and about enjoying restaurants, bars and nightlife, but also offers a wonderful catchment area for people who may be culprits of dropping rubbish on the streets. Additionally the Cresta Billboard is outside Joburg's second busiest shopping centre, on Beyers Naude Drive, and happens to be overlooking a minibus taxi pick-up point. Whilst extremely busy all through the day, the users of the "rank" are also culprits of littering and thus the message is very well targeted.

Guerrilla IMC chose to use some hard-hitting copy in order to elicit a number of responses, for example: grabbing of attention, making people think, creating feelings of embarrassment, and changing what people do with their own rubbish.

The Billboard copy asks:

Why are you littering?

  • I'm stupid

  • I don't care about my city
  • Mummy Still cleans up after me
  • All of the above

    Daryl van Arkel, Director at Guerrilla IMC added: "We chose not to 'play nice' with people who litter our streets (and in turn rivers and streams) by making sure they understood in the strongest terms possible, what people who live and love Joburg think about their behaviour. In a time when human environmental impact is higher on the agenda, many have forgotten being 'Green' is as simple as not polluting... and littering is polluting. Be it a cigarette butt, a sweet wrapper, or a cold drink can."

    Guerrilla hope other industry players will take their lead and use temporarily unsold inventory to communicate something positive and try and change our country for the better, adds Daryl van Arkel. "No outdoor media owner has 100% sold inventory and even at a 10% vacancy rate this is a plenty of free media which can be dedicated to a good cause instead dedicated to the cause of selling the billboard. How many billboards do we see that say "to Advertise here call XYZ" and waste the opportunity and the power the media yields to make even small improvements to our world? The way we have approached it at Guerrilla is, through an effort to communicate the message but we stand as the 'sponsor' of that message and as the owner of the billboards we get the exposure of the space by being the sponsor of the message and it's therefore a win-win situation."

  • 25 Apr 2012 12:20

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