snaps | just across the street ::
Sunday, June 21st, 2009:: taken in the small town of Chuzhou in Anhui province, China. I found these to be ingenious advertising efforts. The first photo says, “There is a noodle shop across the way.” The second photo says, “The old Ao De fried chicken shop is across the street.” Sure enough, in both cases, these shops were directly across the alley – less that 10 meters away. I was curious about the necessity and effectiveness of such advertisements, so I took the time to observe pedestrian reactions to them.
Not that these figures represent statistically sound research, but, in 30 minutes (the time it took me to finish my bubble tea), 47 people walked by these two signs (they were right next to each other). Only a few people didn’t notice them, but every person that noticed them looked across the street to confirm what they had just read. 22 of those people people crossed the street and went to one of the two restaurants. Fascinating. // AjS
