"Man is at his vilest when he erects a billboard"

As you may have read in a previous post I’m researching into environmentally sustainable advertising. Mainly for my diss but also to integrate into a portfolio idea. I have been questioning if there is such a thing as advertising that has minimal impact on the environment? I came across this quote from David Ogilivy " I have a passion for Landscape, and i have never seen one improved by a billboard. Where every prospect pleases, man is at his vilest when he erects a billboard." And i think he's right, they are a blot in the landscape and don’t really offer anything back to the world, except being huge communication devises.


Then i started thinking about possible practical ways advertising could improve the landscape. I thought of bio-degradable billboards, of which i soon googled and found a company already making these. http://www.biobanner.co.uk/. It's a great idea, especially good for direct mail. However a tree is a tree and despite what we do to try and create minimal environmental impact, or try to offset our actions and therefor i think digital is still probably the future of sustainability.


One last shot... provided by http://www.inventorspot.com/ I love the simple idea and message it communicates. One more tear... now thats three trees you have killed!







I will keep you posted on my environmentally sustainable advertising ideas.