Don't stand still

Beware, If you stand still Chennai, someone might stick a poster on you too...

For a while now, Chennai has been a city of posters, but now it is also a city of billboards. Hoarding (mostly illegal) have mushroomed all over Chennai. Marketing starts even before you enter Chennai. Yes, giant hoarding now dot the periphery of Chennai Airport and they are visible as plane lands. But, the marketers are still hungry for space and their latest victim are the gates of residential properties.

With the increasing vehicles on the Chennai roads, it is customary to see Don't park in front of the gate in the gates of most of the residential properties. This small sign is now the latest victim of the space hungry marketers. Very often, with out permission, large sign boards will sprung up in the gates selling from anything from mosquito coils to banking services. Oh, yes they will also say the obligatory 'Don't park in front of the gate' statement in bilingual.







These boards come up uninvited and there is fierce competition amongst various agencies for space. It is not uncommon to see various agencies fighting it out (literally) about missing boards and space. Of course, they fight amongst themselves and hardly ever bother to seek permission from the property owner. Also, I am not aware any payment being made to the property owners for putting up these signs.

Very soon, they will run out of space in these gates and would be looking for the next victim and that could be you. Be warned, If you stand still in Chennai.. a poster could be stuck on you.