Clapham Cat is watching you commute
September 13, 2016 8:58 AM   Subscribe

The Citizens Advertising Takeover Service (get it?) has replaced 68 advertisements in the Clapham Common Tube station with pictures of cats. Many of the featured models are adoptable cats from Cats Protection or Battersea Dogs & Cats Home. More photos and video here.
posted by Metroid Baby (16 comments total) 18 users marked this as a favorite
 
You beat me to it, Metroid. I was coming here to post this. What a great idea! It is not cheap to do this, on BART, we charge around 100K for what we (informally) call "station domination" advertising campaigns.
posted by agatha_magatha at 9:02 AM on September 13, 2016


This is great, I've often thought about how much nicer London would be if you replaced all the adverts with something else (e.g. children's paintings, pictures of cats). Thats why the South Bank is so nice - no adverts. Advertising is often a zero-sum game now for the corporations that engage in it, I think there's a good case for banning most of it. People can look things up if they want to hear about new products etc.
posted by memebake at 9:07 AM on September 13, 2016 [5 favorites]


I never thought it would happen with me and a girl from to see a tube cat in Clapham. /squeeze
posted by Gelatin at 9:10 AM on September 13, 2016 [10 favorites]


Beaten to it; was starting to write this FPP. I applaud the catification of public transport.
posted by Wordshore at 9:18 AM on September 13, 2016 [1 favorite]


"Mind the cat!"
posted by briank at 9:50 AM on September 13, 2016 [15 favorites]


"It’s important to say that we’re not against advertising." (from TFA)

Is it, though? Why?

Also, couldn't find a previously but another world is possible.
posted by abrightersummerday at 10:18 AM on September 13, 2016 [3 favorites]


Just brilliant! I hope every kitty who needs one finds a loving home.
posted by mermayd at 10:29 AM on September 13, 2016


Looks like the London Underground's gone to the dogs.

*crickets*

Anyone? Anyone?
posted by I-baLL at 10:31 AM on September 13, 2016 [1 favorite]


"It’s important to say that we’re not against advertising." (from TFA)
Is it, though? Why?

So they don't look like hypocrites since they just threw up a massive advertising campaign?
posted by Jahaza at 11:09 AM on September 13, 2016 [1 favorite]


A new life awaits you in the off-world cat colonies!
posted by lefty lucky cat at 11:38 AM on September 13, 2016 [7 favorites]


Is it, though? Why?

I'd imagine it's because advertising pays the bills for many of these folks (and that's okay).
posted by schmod at 1:04 PM on September 13, 2016


FINALLY! Someone opened the suggestion box and saw my idea.
posted by JenThePro at 1:20 PM on September 13, 2016 [1 favorite]


Looks like the London Underground's gone to the dogs.


They are just taking pride in their work.

And, really, a bit of kitten around.
posted by GenjiandProust at 1:46 PM on September 13, 2016 [1 favorite]


Dammit, Gelatin, you beat me to it!
posted by ZenMasterThis at 5:47 PM on September 13, 2016


MewTube.
posted by The Underpants Monster at 7:45 AM on September 14, 2016 [1 favorite]


This is neat. Their presentation is relentlessly apolitical in a way that feels like a lost opportunity to critique advertising in public spaces. But, I suppose not everything needs to be political. And, hooray for cats.

It's also interesting to consider the costs involved. According to official 2014 statistics*, there are 8.94 million entries and exists at Clampham Common station in a year. That's 344 thousand in an average two week period. The kickstarter campaign raised £23K. They don't say how much of that went to transit agency fees and how much of it went to materials and other things. Supposing 60% of it went to rent the space, that's around 4 pennies per person per station per trip that the Tube makes from selling ad space. If most people visit two stations, that's around 8p/trip paid by advertisers.

That's a number worth thinking about. It's not entirely negligible compared to the £2.40 price of a Oyster Card trip. But, it's certainly close to negligible. I'd happily pay an extra 8p/trip to not have to see advertising on public transit. If I had the option to pay several times that and either subsidize the ad-free travel of low income people or fill the walls with commissioned artwork instead, I'd jump at the chance. I have very little intuition for what fraction of travelers would agree with me, but I suspect it's not tiny.

* Props to the city for making this data easy to access. It's a small thing compared to having a working public transit system, but it's sure nice.
posted by eotvos at 3:37 PM on September 14, 2016 [1 favorite]


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