At least someone noticed..

One has to wonder about the difference between breaking the news and making the news with this one..  Still, hey presto! Stay tuned for more breaking vacuum packed stories in the near unreported future

Beautiful Bray? Behold!

I don’t suppose you happened onto the seafront just this  Sunday, basking in our very Irish autumn summer?

What a sight there was to behold!

Many visitors from south county, inner city Dublin and wandering first time DART’ers had succumb to Bray Town Council’s (BTC) nifty new trendy “anti-litter” campaign by advertising on, prepare yourselves for this, bins.

Are they taking the piss?

Is it unreasonable to believe that anyone frogmarching near or passing a bin with any potential rubbish might incur a likely high probability to make use of the bin, regardless of these ridiculously cartoony posters? Four questions spring to mind:

1. Does the giant friendly Sesame Street bin indicate a BTC target audience of 3-5 year olds, who might otherwise be with their parents and have yet to be exposed to endless joys of feeding Oscar the Grouch‘s insatiable appetite?
2. Is the image suggestively referring seafront visitors to discard their rubbish into the friendly Irish Sea that will just wash all their empty Henry and Rose/Cassoni chip-bag sized troubles away?
3. Could this local PR stunt and designing, marketing and printing monies have been put to better use? As far as I can see these posters were printed during the great silence between when the Recycling Center was shut shut down and miraculously reopened last week without any loud public appeal from incoming councilors or hustings on the issue in the process. Something is being distorted in this picture.
4. Was  this just a cynical attempt at a photo opportunity in the next tidy towns competition or a genuine move for change? What about targeting public spaces that would engage litter bugs that would otherwise possess a bin-phobia and therefore stay clear of anti-litter spaces? Two words: no brainer.

On one last point, take a look at the effects of the Town Council’s green policy with regard to the new fandango anti-dumping bins and what this has done for high impact users since the large steel drums were removed -images brought to you courtesy of professional photographer Gar Goyle.

What would the Good Bürgers in Wicklow County Council – ahem, greenest county council in Ireland 2009 please stand up – think about all of this? Is it just a matter for the last roll of councilors before the June local elections? Former Minister for the Environment?

Beautiful Bray? Scroll on…