It’s easy to spot many of the movies made in New York City in the pre-Giuliani days. Film directors thought it was obligatory to have a shot of graffiti-laden subway cars.
Which was utter tackiness, of course, but the vandals had their defenders. The painted scribbles were the “people’s art”, and we were supposed to celebrate the creative eye and spontaneity of hoodlum spray-can wielders.
Alas, there is no dumb or vile practice which is devoid of defenders. Currently, there are people in the British bureaucracy and media who think that a practice of admitting migrants who need to be told that rape is bad is – all things considered – quite all right.
But that’s a mega-item. Permit me to address a minor one which is so irritating that it may be wrong to regard it as minor. Civilization’s standards are eroded one minor retreat at a time, and this is one of the many cases in which the culprits are people who should know better.
My target is those ads for law firms, realtors, and you name it which are defacing city buses.
In my hometown of Phoenix, law firms seem to be the biggest participants in this, as Ignatius Reilly would put it, “egregious display of poor taste,” but they’re far from alone.
If there were an ounce of wit in their ads, I might be more forgiving. A “Someone out there owes you money” slogan would trigger a smile.
But wit and beauty are missing.
Let me add some exceptions. Billboard ads are fine. After all, lawyers and more lawyers are what I expect to see when casually glancing at a billboard. Bus stop ads are also acceptable. They’re easy enough to ignore unless I’m limping along in search of justice.
Vehicles with a specific purpose, however, are supposed to declare that purpose. Appearance matters. Directness matters.
As the old “dress for success” wizards used to say, if you’re a banker, you’re expected to dress like a banker, not a Hell’s Angel. There’s supposed to be no need for mental frisking.
School buses are yellow for a reason. Something large and yellow up ahead shouts “school bus” and we immediately perk up.
A similar rule applies to fire trucks. The legendary Fire Chief Alan Brunacini was declaring a holy truth when he said “God meant fire trucks to always be red.”
[There are some fire departments using a different color, but they are renegades and thus risk excommunication.]
This charming rant was recently inspired when I encountered an extraordinary sight: some city buses that were devoid of any advertising.
None. Not a bit.
Let me assure you that they were simply beautiful. Soothing colors and designs. A thoroughly professional look.
They even looked cleaner than their tattooed counterparts.
There were no photos of pinstriped persuaders touting their services, no windows covered with advertising wrap, and no catchy phone numbers or calls for action.
In other words, they had one message: this is a pleasant, well-maintained, and clean form of transportation.
St. Louis Metro banned exterior ads on buses and light-rail cars in 2024. They decided to forego the ad revenue in order to enhance the “visual aesthetics.”
Good for them.
Too many cities loudly extol the uplifting virtues of public art while permitting mobile exhibitions of ugliness to cruise from neighborhood to neighborhood.
Day after day.
Graffiti is bad enough when it’s sporadically produced by amateurs.
Why should public servants permit a systematic and depressing defilement?