The Hoarding Association of Mumbai is trying a novel tack to draw attention to its woes.

Strategic hoardings across the city are currently sporting creative messages targeted ostensibly at the ordinary viewer, but designed to draw government attention to the problems being faced by the outdoor media. 'Mumbai is the only city in the country to have no illegal hoardings' claims one, while another says ' Did you know that outdoor media contributes Rs 3000 lakh to the government every year....Other media are yet to begin." The idea, says Mudra's associate VP, media, S S Shetty, is to focus attention on the fact that while a stray case of illegal hoarding may have marred the reputation of outdoor media in the city, it would not be fair to condemn the entire outdoor media business.

Consequently, a hoarding that goes 'If one channel shows objectionable matter, why ban all television channels?' has also been spotted at a key junction in suburban Andheri. The hoarding does not relate to any TV channel but is an indirect pointer to the fact that if one player goes astray, the entire medium need not be castigated, says Shetty.


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