November 24, 2007
How Much Is Too Much?
When we interviewed TTC Chair Adam Giambrone in August––at the height of anxiety over potential cuts to his system––he told us that the TTC has "an acceptable level of advertising. Could it be less? Absolutely. At this point any reduction would be a budget reduction, and I'll tell you I'm not really prepared to reduce the budget of the TTC to reduce the advertising. At the same time, I think we certainly have enough advertising. Many people would say too much, and even if we went all-out, the money is just not the solution to our city's budget woes." The TTC makes, Giambrone noted, "in the range of $15 to 20 million a year" from advertising.
The TTC's crisis has since mostly passed: they've raised fares and just unveiled a non-catastrophic operating budget. The TTC's not drowning, they're just gently bobbing along the top of the water in a life preserver.
So, then, all things considered, advertising on the TTC: all right, or not quite?
Photo of Bay Station by David Topping.
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If video ads AND cameras go into subway cars, I would be disappointed in Toronto if it didn't collectively freak out and break stuff.
Wait... is there... a... grand... opening... for... something? If only there was somewhere I could find out information -- somewhere with information plastered everywhere so no matter where I looked I couldn't escape it. How nice would that be? Ah... to dream...
I wouldn't care if the entire train, seats and all, were plastered with ads. If that means better service, cheaper fares and an extension to Scarborough I'd say go for it because its obvious Toronto's transit system isn't going to get any help from the federal government any time soon.
I'd have to agree with raches, I honestly don't even pay attention to most of the advertising anymore and if it helps the TTC lower fares, provide more coverage and generally have better service, I say advertise away!
Justin Lemaire
The Toronto Traveler
Back in January 2006, the TPSC held an art show to envision the TTC with art instead of advertising. The entire accompanying manifesto-ish text can be found here, but I want to highlight this section:
"TTC riders have been tricked into thinking that the advertising plastered on every surface of our vehicles is necessary because it provides a significant financial subsidy to our ride. The truth is, the entire Viacom contract only contributes four cents per ride. That means that if you removed every ad on every bus, streetcar, subway and station you would see a token price jump from $2.50 to $2.54.
"Is it worth it? Didn’t the TTC raise fares by 25 cents this year already? Couldn’t they have taken a nickel from that raise and put it towards beautifying the TTC? Four cents would pay for the lost ad revenue and the other penny would create a four million dollar fund to pay for the printing and installation of art and community announcements.
"If Viacom wants to cover the TTC with ads, then they should pay for the entire ride. The TTC should be free. That’s how advertising contracts usually work. Free benches, free garbage cans, etc.
"How did the TTC Commissioners manage to sell-off the entire TTC for four cents a ride?
"When Viacom is ready to pay the full cost of the transit system, let them have it. Until then, as long as we have to pay for our ride, please, give us back our TTC."
Oddly enough, this photo makes it look like some art installation pieces I've seen.
Wouldn't it be ironic if they commissioned an artist to produce some work for the TTC, and it ended up being some sort of critique of advertising that looked exactly like this.
Giving this issue some more thought, I say we should go for it - put advertising literally everywhere in the TTC.
Let's take the advertisers' money and use it against them, by creating an absurdly over-exploited public facility which serves as a post-modern statement about today's advertising-saturated, profit-driven society.
It is pretty dissapointing that advertising brings in so little revenue. Rather than decreasing the amount of advertising, I wish the TTC would start charging more for ad space.
I cannot understand why the TTC doesn't leverage the whole 'captive audience of three million eyes a day' feature it has going for it and charge way more for advertising. They should be reducing the number of ad mounting locations too, not allowing vinyl stickers to coat every static surface.
Apparently Sephora doesn't realize that Bloor Street East exists. The address on the ad says "131 Bloor Street" - it doesn't say which side of Yonge it is on (though it is presumably west).
rant: bay station and the massive sephora ads are the bane of my existence. my hatred does not abate. am i the only one who finds these stark black and white ads with the words "the beauty authority" to have a distinctly dictatorial and fascistic vibe? every time i see them i wish to tear them down.
haha, 'Neighbourhood beautification in progress'
If plastering a subway platform is as cheap as it might seem, why don't we get a bunch of local artists, writers, photographers, and even some culture jammers together, buy the walls of a station like Bay, Yonge/Bloor or St. George and truly make something beautiful. Make something that won't spread the ideology of beauty or have any commercial agenda.
It's about time we saw some images that weren't in pursuit of profit.
Or we could just jam these signs and make 'grand opening' say 'groping' :P
raches: I think that the TTC would need a tenfold increase from ad revenues to start thinking about using the money for capital projects.
Obviously I am just pulling the number out of my hat, but we all know their operating budget isn't doing so hot, and how expensive capital projects are.