There is an unwritten rule in advertising that all OOH, or Out Of Home advertising, as in billboards, transit posters or any kind of signage should be limited to 7 words. I have, on occasion, broken this rule and refused to shorten a headline to accommodate some whiny art director or witless client, but let's not dwell on that.
This recently spotted sign has no less than 18 words. Close to 300% of the agreed upon minimum. And to what end? The designer fails to let the visual do any of the work. There's useless information; I don't think people who neglect to pick up their dog's business care one way or another about transmitting disease. And what's the man doing with that 9 iron?
It's just poor communication.
Particularly when one considers the much-more effective and mercifully shorter old school sign:
Perhaps I'm just an aging Luddite. But I have a sneaky suspicion that next year's version of the sign will include one of these useless widgety things foisted upon us by the technologists who want us to engage with brands/companies/organizations on a deeper, qualitative, transactional mutually-cognitive basis:
BTW, the minute I start understanding marketing jargonese as in the sentence above, is the day I get out of advertising and start studying to become a Math Teacher.
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