Wild Ways – Exploring the environment

I recently observed, in the window of a shoe shop in a large Dublin shopping centre, an advertisement that read “buy one and get one free”. Shoes are normally sold in twos but I presume the owner meant “buy one pair and you get another pair free”. Advertising is necessary to draw the attention of potential customers to businesses that are not well enough known or to items or services that private individuals are offering for sale or which they hope to bring to the notice of the public. Some advertising can be quite costly, especially if it is not carefully thought out. Some can incur expenditure far beyond the real value of what is offered.
Last week, for instance, I had to bin seven glossy inserts offering the same television-related product; this has been going on for some time. One has to question the morality of the use of huge quantities of expensive paper to put over a message which, I am sure, could be adequately expressed in newsprint, which also serves to provide useful information such as news, both local, national or international, government notices, lists of forthcoming events and enjoyable photography, as well as editorials.
We must not forget that the purchase price we pay for our daily papers and other regular reading materials, such as journals and magazines, would necessarily be huge if it wasn’t for the advertisers. The customer or retail price does little more than reflect the cost of distribution and few contributors of articles, and other text, submit them for free.
There are, of course, a lot of different types of advertising. On a very local level, there is the possibility, certainly where charity is involved, of publicising through the clergy on a Sunday morning or via the church notice board. The local bar or supermarket may also have a facility for notices, such as an area of a window. Sometimes local citizens will stick up a usually rather unprofessional board with large enough print to convey their message. There is also the local community newspaper.
Incidentally, on a recent trip to Dublin, well after the referendum, I was struck by the number of ‘No’ and ‘Yes’ vote signs still attached to mainly publicly owned electricity and telephone poles and also the quite large percentage that had fallen and been left for the wind to blow. I can only assume that a serious number of promoters couldn’t care less about our national environment, let alone that of Europe.
However, let us consider the need for spreading a message to a larger community base. At major events, such as agricultural shows or festivals, flyers are indiscriminately given to attendees or stuck under the windscreen of their vehicles. They do cost money but I wonder do they really pay? It seems that most are either binned or merely dropped on the ground, either way unread. Little of the paper used is likely to be recycled and a lot of timber can be wasted through the manufacturing of the paper used. Larger supermarkets now have boards where, for a small fee, people can express their wants by sticking up postcard-size requests. I am often struck by the number of sandwich boards carried through the main thoroughfares of Galway. I pity the poor people who man them come most weather conditions. I have never asked how much they are paid or why they are doing it.
In cities, there are the neon lights for advertising, as in Broadway or Piccadilly. Nowadays, a lot of advertising is done on television or through our computers. There is little or no wasted material but do we consider the time spent in front of the flat screen? Certainly many of us who watch television take the breaks to pour a “cuppa” or check the kids. When facing the computer screen, do we calculate the time wasted as we click on our mice?
Advertising is necessary in so many ways. In fact a large book could be written on the subject. However, we should all consider the wastage, not only of paper and the use of solid matter but also of time that could possibly be put to better use. We should look at it from an environmental point of view.

Black spot
Advertisers who, to avoid breaking the law, drag a truck or trailer smothered in posters or other forms of advertising into a field and leave it so that it deteriorates and becomes an eyesore.

Good mark
Citizens who create and erect signs but who undertake them as a work of art and who take care with letters and numbers particularly.

Week’s tip
If advertising a car for sale with a window sign, for instance, use a “permanent” marker or paint which doesn’t fade.