For those of you still on vacation {or you have the ability to listen to radio while at work}, I just finished a half-hour appearance on Ontario Today, the early afternoon show on CBC Radio 1. I was asked to discuss the recent decision by the City of London {Ontario} to allow the Egg Farmers of Canada to advertise their “Get Cracking” campaign in bike lanes.

Unlike other outdoor advertising campaigns that use guerrilla marketing techniques {illegal spray-painting of sidewalks or “impromptu” performances promoting products}, the Egg people paid London a whopping $5,000 to place 20 logos along the city’s dedicated bike paths located in public parks. Not only did the city get ripped off {that’s $250 a logo!}, they used the paltry sum of money to print a newsletter promoting the city’s parks instead of investing it back into bike infrastructure or putting it towards, you know, something useful.

I was happy to hear that almost all callers agreed with my position that this kid of ad creep cheapens a park, not to mention compromises the integrity of the city’s infrastructure {notice that the bike stencil in the ad is in much better shape than the one on the road}. What’s the next step? Using the dashes on the road to point you towards a Wal-Mart, or use the traffic screens on highways to promote a new car model?
spacing.ca/wire/2008/08/26/advertising-in-bike-lanes/comments