Team Cycad: Bicycle Billboards
by Warren McLaren, Sydney on 06.21.07
Okay, so billboards are often first grade visual pollution. But they aren’t going away tomorrow. And some bright sparks have taken to towing them around town on the back of trucks or on trailers behind extra polluting two stroke engine motorbikes. No only are these versions both visually and olfactorally stinky, but the mobile ones contribute a whole heap more CO2 emissions than an advert sitting quietly still on a highway or railway verge. If we are going to have billboards galavanting around our cities shouldn’t they be emission-free? Team Cycad believe so. They arrange to have teams of four athletic cyclists towing little billboard trailers, complete with the latest in “anti-cross wind technology’ ! Additionally they figure the sight of pedal bikers helps promoting city cycling and general health, not to mention ad campaigns can also traverse bike paths, as well as parks and gardens. An Australian inspired idea, but as the New York based campaign in the lower pic indicates, one with global reach. ::Team Cycad, via tip from Marcus B.
Any additional vehicles on the road cause increased congestion, resulting in more vehicle idling and stop-and-go. Causing congestion simply for advertising is therefore not green, even if it's on a bicycle.
Shame on you, treehugger.
Even if these moving billboards are not as bad for the environment, they still contribute to traffic and congestion. They take up space on the roads and slow down other vehicles, which then create more pollution. I'll leave the issue of visual pollution to others, but I think these ads are part of of the problem, not part of the solution.
Maybe we weren't clear. Mobile billboards already exist. They cavort the streets on trucks and motorbikes. They're currently part of traffic congestion, and they most certainly contribute CO2 emissions. If we're going to have to suffer mobile billboards, (and they won't vanish tomorrow), then removing half of the problem (greenhouse gases) seems a step in the right direction. We like the concept as a replacement for trucks and motorbikes, not additional to. Of course no billboards at all, transported by any means, would be an ideal. But then so to is getting many of those other cars off the road, via the alternatives of bicycles and public transport.
this is a novell idea. however you need to contact a me and get it to a flying start in Africa. reasons
1. 90% of Africas population uses a bicycle for transport
2. We have next to no roads in Africa and only bicycles are the mode of transport
3. We are already doing this advertising using a single wheel cycle and need to get more technology like the lit up billboard. I tink we can already design one BUT it is ok to have partnerships.
4. WE ARE THE BIGGEST CARBON SINK YU CAN THINK OF AND CAN PLAY A BIG ROLE IN CLEANING YOUR SMOG