Being bombarded with advertising all day, everywhere you go, is exhausting. And, yes, we realise the irony of saying that as you are no doubt drawn to the many excellent adverts that are run on this very website. Honestly, these products really are fantastic, much better than all those others you see everywhere else.
You're not even safe in the last bastion of 'time spent by yourself': while travelling.
Yes, all over the London Underground are giant adverts telling you how happy you'll be if you buy this product, how that product will make you look better, and how this other product is the secret to eternal wellbeing; often with the result that you feel unhappy about your current lot.
But one new organisation is aiming to change this, one station at a time.
The Citizens Advertising Takeover Service (CATS) has launched an ambitious campaign to replace every single advert at one busy London tube station with pictures of cats instead. Why? Because, "imagine the joy we could bring to all those busy shoppers. Instead of being asked to buy something, they'd be free to think happy thoughts, to smile and laugh."
As they write, "Wouldn’t it be great not to worry about the holiday we can't afford, the car we don’t need, or the body we don’t have? Imagine a world where public spaces made you feel good."
They need to raise £20,000 in order to 'take over' a platform, or an escalator, at a London Undeground station - and their Kickstarter page has already raised almost £5,000. A stretch goal of £75,000 would enable them to reposter an entire station.
A £30 pledge will get you a t-shirt while a £100 donation will even mean that your very own cat can star in one of the 'adverts'. A mighty £2,500 will mean your mog gets a whole poster entirely to themselves. Imagine how majestic that would be. You're imagining it right now aren't you?
They admit themselves, that "We know this is a silly project. But what if we did this around the whole country, or in every major city in the world? Cats everywhere! Dumb yes, but also this is about trying something, flexing our collective voice in the most idiotic of ways. From all this madness something amazing could happen. Perhaps we'll start to realise that buying stuff isn't making us happy."
We vote they go for Tottenham Cat Road first, and be sure to skip Barking.
(Image: Rex)
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