Cape Town horizon causes tempers to flare

Nic Bednall, managing director of Berry Bush BBDO, has entered the fray to debate the recent suggestion that the N2 cooling towers in the city of Cape Town be used as an outdoor advertising medium and a means of generating additional revenue.

Bednall is all in favour: "I'd say it's a fabulous idea. A similar project in Boston involved turning Boston Gas's distinctive natural-gas tanks into a massive canvas. The work - myriad-hued stripes of artist Corita Kent - proved an instant landmark and became the world's largest copyrighted work of art.

"The tank was torn down in 1992 but the colourful motif had become such a part of the landscape that the original design was reproduced on the tank that remained.

"It's about time Cape Town got with the flow - it is possible to lighten up on outdoor advertising restrictions in the Cape in such a way that we add to the attractions of the city landscape. After all, as the Boston example proves it is not so much the size of the space that people object to but the quality of the content on outdoor billboards. So yes, more outdoor in the Cape is great but let's improve the creative product."

Bednall points out that an overarching consideration must be the significant revenue that the site would generate in order to build formal housing for the N2 Gateway Project: "The naysayers should consider which is more effective; a contribution to decent housing and a sensational artwork or the grey towers standing sentinel over the ever-increasing spread of shacks? Managed properly the N2 towers could take what is now dead space and turn it into a win-win for advertisers, the City and for the people."