Hugh Stone Photo
This BMW 'hot wheel' displays an advertisement on the windscreen at a recently held Hot Wheelz car show in Kingston.Teino Evans, Staff Reporter
Party promoters have found a mobile way to promote their events, by having ads placed onto the rear windscreens of motor vehicles.
The most common previous method was to simply put hammer and nail to good effect and erect billboards. This, however, ran afoul of the law enforcement authorities and the clampdown on illegal billboards began.
In recent times the use of personal motor vehicles to advertise events has become the norm. Announcements of almost every major party this summer can be seen on a car, van or bus.
So instead of a 'clean slate', many people have been looking ahead in traffic at 'Lady Saw's Birthday Celebration, Reggae Beach, Ocho Rios, Sunday, July 17'; Player's Ball - Pimps n Ho's Style at the Quad, Saturday, July 16'; 'Hott Wheelz 2005, August 6 and 7 at the Cable and Wireless Golf Academy' and 'Camouflage at the Mas Camp, Saturday, July 23', among other party announcements.
However, Mayor of Kingston, Councillor Desmond McKenzie said from a Kingston and St. Andrew Corporation (KSAC) perspective, this new form of advertising is still in violation of the Town and Country Planning Control Advertisement Regulation of 1978.
"All of that requires KSAC approval. The law is quite clear; once the public is exposed to your advertising and whether it be an event, item or business it falls under the Town and Country Planning Act," Mayor McKenzie said.
Michelle Baldie, one of the promoters of Hot Wheelz, said they are the ones who actually started what has now become a fad.
Trendsetters
"We set that trend. After we did the first Hot Wheelz in 2003, everyone started coming to us asking us how we did those stickers on the car glass. Even with the Lady Saw show the other day, they approached us and we actually put them on to the right people," Baldie said.
Baldie said the Hot Wheelz promoters are still the pacesetters.
"Even now, what sets us apart is that many promoters still have not perfected it. We were actually able to create a logo and we actually put it on hot vehicles, while other promoters are only able to get the words. We also discovered that white is the best colour to have the ad in, especially to read from a distance," she said.
Many people who have ads on their cars are only too willing to provide the plug, despite not being paid.
One charter taxi operator whose car was spotted parked in Tropical Plaza, Half-Way Tree, was advertising 'Emancipation by the River', to be held on August 1, at Boon Hall Oasis. He declined to give his name, but said he had nothing to do with the event.
"A mi friend brethren a put it on an tru a mi fren mi jus seh mek mi do it, cause no harm in it. It nuh really trouble mi still, cause a temporary ting," he said.
"Yuh si tru a mi fren, mi nuh really get nuh money, but mi get ticket fi me an mi family fi guh di event and parking space is provided fi di cars wid ads at the venue," he said.
According to the taxi operator, placing the ad on his car didn't cost him anything and it was a simple, quick process.
"Dem call mi an mi jus guh out a di printer place an not it not even tek two second. But before yuh guh, dem tek yuh name an number. When di event gone wi jus draw off di tape an' wash it off," he explained.
Coupled with the fact that promoters may not have to fork out money to pay car owners, Wayne Fagan, one of the directors at Print Big Advertising, which does billboards, vehicle graphics, signs and posters, said the ad itself is relatively inexpensive.
"It nuh cost no bag a money. The hard part is actually getting people who are willing to actually put the signs on their cars and, once you get that, it doesn't take long for the sign to be put on," Fagan said.
However, Fagan said it was not only party promoters who frequently visit his shop.
"People come to me from time to time and they are not just party promoters but also business people who want us to do ads to be placed on cars," he added.
Michelle Baldie compared the car advertisements favourably to billboards.
"When I went to the KSAC to put up a board on my business place they said it would cost me $2,500 a year and when I brought the Hot Wheelz billboard they said it would cost us $8,500 for each board. Now the sign on the car glass, only costs $300 - $400 or more, depending on the graphics and colours that you are using," she said.
recent clampdown
Mayor McKenzie knows that the rise in car glass advertsing is directly related to the the recent clampdown on illegal billboards.
"A lot of that stems because we clamped down on the billboards, but it is still in violation. This one is more difficult to police; we will have to take a different approach and it is not something that we have worked out as yet," Mayor McKenzie said.
Singer Lloyd Lovindeer, who happened to be passing in the mall when The Sunday Gleaner was speaking to the taxi driver, said he had noticed the mobile ads.
"Advertising is all about getting the message across, so by any means legally. Especially if is a crissas yuh driving an everybody looking at it, the better for you. The blinger the better," he said.
