| THE WAR OF INFORMATION In an age where over-paid advertising executives control the hearts and minds of billions, how does the common man get his opinion across? By fly posting of course. KARL STEIGER takes a closer look�. IN THE UK during the 1960s, in an attempt to kerb fly posting, the British Government began putting up signs in key fly posting areas, stating boldly that �Bill Stickers Will Be Prosecuted�. This led to a great wave of �Bill Stickers is innocent� fly posters appearing across Britain and thus a legend was born. Lord Of The Rings author JRR Tolkien even gave the name to one of his characters, Bill Stickers, a big burly villain forever chased by the righteous Major Road Ahead. So what IS �fly posting�? One definition offered by environmental campaigners EnCams is �the display of advertising material on buildings and street furniture without the consent of the owner, and contrary to the law. �Fly-posting can occur in any location but is particularly prevalent in urban areas. It can be unsightly and is often seen as symptomatic of low environmental quality.� �Fly posting� encompasses everything from putting up a poster without permission to scribbling �Kick Me� on a Post-It note and sticking it on someone�s back! Today it is hard to walk down the street without seeing a fly poster of some kind - they are everywhere, although it is nothing new. Fly posting was especially prevalent in the 1800s. Billstickers were a regular feature of city streets, often pasted over the advertisements of competitors. Places most used by the public, such as railway stations, where inundated with such makeshift adverts. Ironically, William Caxton himself was responsible for the first ever fliers, which he handed out in streets to promote his books. One technique used by those responsible to cover their backs is to put a little �not for fly posting� message in small print at the bottom of the poster before they fly post them everywhere. Fly posting your advertisements instead of using the official advertising channels means that no tax is paid, no site is rented, the posters themselves are cheap and relatively easy to create, and no watchdog regulates what is put before public eyes. One major plus for the advertisers is the absence of any shadowy Murdoch-like mogul figure deciding what can and cannot be said. Fly posters can cover what the mainstream media ignore. Some people argue that the lack of regulation can only be good for freedom of speech, while others argue that their children have to walk past such posters on the way to school. Continued... |