Ever wondered why there are more images of attractive women, wearing very little clothing, on public display stands, than there are images of attractive men? Sometimes when I am travelling on the underground tube, I find myself staring blankly at a poster that is supposed to be advertising a new car but instead it has an unnecessary picture of a celebrity supermodel in her underwear. The new car is conveniently tucked away behind in a blur.

Tactful Images

If I am going to be completely honest most of the time, I walk pass large display stands and not even notice what had been displayed. Yet for some reason I seem to think of the image later on in the day and it continues to play on my mind for a short while. This is the power of advertising; they use subliminal messages and psychology to grab the attentions of the individual so they never forget the product and then go out to buy it whether they need it or not (in my case not!).

Often I like to see people's reaction to specific display stands that may appear offensive to some people. The design of the display may not always be intended to cause offense, however more often than none they fall into the trap of being labelled inappropriate when they may just be ironic or humorous.

Recently I have found that displays are becoming more creative, adding colour and vibrancy entrancing passersby, causing them to stop and stare. Often I find those kinds of people most annoying especially when they stop dead in front of you, when you are clearly in a rush to get to work. Amazing how much effort these advertisers put in when trying to sell their products, most of it being absolute rubbish.

Display Designs

Display banners and stands alike are unfortunate enough to be victims of graffiti and vandalism. Take for examples the large roll-over display stands at the bus-stop, just when you actually take notice of what is being displayed some miscreant individual has spray painted some form of profanity or defamatory words. It is lucky that the posters are safe behind a thick piece of Perspex!

The best display stands are ones elaborately decorated, designed on high budget and often-digital images are those at exhibitions. The most recent exhibition I had visited was The Good Food Show in London. The event was thriving with people, catering for well-over 30,000 visitors and displaying very large poster images of our favourite chef as well as some fancy gourmet foods. I have often wondered what it would be like to see a large image of myself displayed so brightly in front of thousands of people - quite frightening the thought!

Now when I travel along the underground and stand behind other passengers on the escalators, I cannot help but notice the digital displays along the walls. Before they were print posters with chewing stuck on them, now they have added clever digital images that change every five seconds or so. They make the journey from the bottom of the escalator to the top more interesting, and vice-versa.