Thai home furnishings and hardware shop HomePro recently unveiled a new campaign of sidewalk billboards. More than just your usual advertising fodder, each billboard was fitted on its reverse with trendy wallpaper and useful objects like shelving, hangers and lights.
Once the campaign ened, the sturdy boards were then offered up to the community at large to become free, but useful, walling for makeshift dwellings. Thailand, like many places globally, has problems with poverty and housing shortages. These sustainable corporate message boards present an interesting addition to the debate around corporate interest and public space. With many municipalities stretched to their fiscal drawstrings, what role can the corporate world play? And how much room is there in that role for blatantly commercial messages? An even bigger brand addressing this question in a bigger way is LandProp Holdings, the real-estate wing of Swede-shop IKEA. The 26-acre Strand East has been much reported on and views vary, but there is no denying IKEA’s penchant for remaining at the fore of cultural issues. Check out our Cultural Traction website for more.
