47
KARACHI: The city's landscape is dotted with jarring examples of commercialisation. Marketing paraphernalia can be seen covering buildings, bridges and mammoth billboards.
The latest example is Karachi's iconic Teen Talwar (Three Swords) monument in its upscale Clifton locality.
In pictures posted by residents on social media, the monument can be seen wrapped in advertisement banners announcing 'My Karachi' festival to be held in the city this week.
Advertisements for the 'Family Fun Festival' cover the three white marble swords, which are inscribed with the national motto of Unity, Faith and Discipline, in a disorderly manner.
The festival is organised by the Karachi Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KCCI). According to its website, "The vision of 'My Karachi-Oasis of Harmony' Exhibition is to rebuild the image of Karachi and to give positive signals to foreign entrepreneurs that the industrial and commercial activities are going on smoothly in Pakistan particularly in Karachi".
The emergence of the banners on Teen Talwar did not please Karachiites, with many calling for action to be taken against the placement of the ads on social media.
A Cantonment Board Clifton (CBC) official, working with the hoardings department of the administrative body, told Dawn.com that the Teen Talwar monument was beyond the ambit of CBC, and that the Karachi Metropolitan Corporation (KMC) is answerable for it.
When contacted, KMC's District Metropolitan Corporation advertisement director commented that he was not aware of such ads being placed on Teen Talwar, and added reluctantly that "they should have not been covered with ads entirely".
The official said he would look into the matter.
Update: The advertisement banners covering the monument were removed by the administration later in the day.
Read more
On DawnNews
Comments (47) Closed
Mar 24, 2016 04:16pm
Pathetic sense of marketing
Recommend
0
Mar 24, 2016 04:23pm
This is just ridiculous. Who ever came up with this idea should be fired.
Recommend
0
Mar 24, 2016 04:29pm
Karachi is money making machine. Illegal advertisements can be seen everywhere. I am sure every responsible is getting their slice.
Recommend
0
Mar 24, 2016 04:35pm
I understood that billboards and advertising banners were banned in Karachi.
If my understanding is correct then all unlawful activities will go on under
the protection of police and other law enforcement agencies.
Recommend
0
Mar 24, 2016 04:35pm
Unity, Faith, Discipline has been sold for few rupees
Recommend
0
Mar 24, 2016 04:39pm
Karachi's beauty has been ruined by large bill boards placed in hap hazard ways in almost every nook and corner of the city. The idea to cover the Teen Talwar with advertisement is another example of dismal and ugly promotional campaign.
Recommend
0
Mar 24, 2016 04:41pm
Let the swords be covered by advertisements until such time,traffic signals are placed in lieu .The traffic engineering bureau needs to put traffic signals and remove the round abouts both at 3 talwar and 2 talwar ,for smooth flow of traffic. There are frequent traffic jams due to these round abouts.
Recommend
0
Mar 24, 2016 04:42pm
How about mass public boycott of these ad agencies to teach them a lesson. Go on social media and initiate boycott.
Recommend
0
Mar 24, 2016 04:47pm
Unit, Faith & Discipline is anyway gone long time ago:(
probably this is the right of monument for some commercial benefits
Recommend
0
Mar 24, 2016 04:54pm
@GA strongly agree
Recommend
0
Mar 24, 2016 05:17pm
The city administration is requested to please stop defacing these iconic symbols of beauty of Karachi and immediately remove the billboards.
Recommend
0
Mar 24, 2016 05:17pm
The real disturbance is the billboards fixed on footpath.
Recommend
0
Mar 24, 2016 05:17pm
Absolute disgrace - no sense of pride - Chalu kaam as long as someone makes money, shameful mentality.
Recommend
0
Mar 24, 2016 05:17pm
What kind of message does this send to the 'foreign entrepreneurs' who you are seemingly looking to attract. Can't even get the basics right. Who on earth would come and do business in karachi?
Recommend
0
Mar 24, 2016 05:29pm
No wonder Karachi is in such a pathetic condition
Recommend
0
Mar 24, 2016 05:37pm
There is something fundamentally wrong with the way this country thinks. If this was any developed country, the advertiser would have been put in jail by now.
Recommend
0
Mar 24, 2016 05:57pm
Karachi is the city of Billboards, not city of lights. Marketers have placed ads on every place imaginable. The situation is particularly bad in Cantonment areas, such as Sh.Faisal. There is no regulation in this regard whatsoever. Sindh govt. is sleeping, as usual.
Recommend
0
Mar 24, 2016 05:57pm
Could not make Karachi any more uglier than it already is.
Recommend
0
Mar 24, 2016 05:59pm
Next, Minar-e-Pakistan is going to be draped in some company's logo!?
Where does it stop?
Recommend
0
Mar 24, 2016 06:01pm
Teen-Talwar is good place for advertising.
Recommend
0
Mar 24, 2016 06:21pm
This menace is every thing an eye sore, an insult to aesthetics, a hazard due to their size, placement and fixing, an obstruction to light and visibility, a distraction for drivers and its not going to go away as money talks. Who cares about rules, as society we the people have to decide to act. Hit where it hurts most, boycott all displayed items to the maximum. It will all fizzle away.
Recommend
0
Mar 24, 2016 06:37pm
like this way ... soon we will be seeing an advertisement on tomb of Quaid e azam !!
Recommend
0
Mar 24, 2016 07:02pm
It's like marble arch in London being covered with advertisements. What a shame.
Recommend
0
Mar 24, 2016 07:14pm
Karachi used to be the cleanest city in sub-continent, even the roads were washed. Now this mega-city has become an eye-sore with advertisements, political slogans and graffiti everywhere. This must "stop". All political parties and business people must remove their political banners and advertisements, or face penalties.
They can display only on authorized bill boards. The people of Karachi "demand" Sindh government, Karachi Metropolitan Corporation (KMC), Cantonment Board Clifton (CBC), MQM and PPP to take immediate action. They should not fail in their civic duty. Let's make this city of our beloved Quaid, clean and beautiful again.
Recommend
0
Mar 24, 2016 07:37pm
These kind of advertisements along with billboards along the main streets are considered visual pollution in developed countries. Most developed countries are getting away with practicing such marketing tactics. Pakistan major metropolitan cities should have a similar policies where putting billboards and advertisement stated in the above article becomes a punishable crime.
Recommend
0
Mar 24, 2016 07:42pm
K.M.C doesn't know anything .
Recommend
0
Mar 24, 2016 07:52pm
The vision of 'My Karachi-Oasis of Harmony' should first get all the industries shifted to Bangladesh back home, before talking about any harmony. Without that, it is just an Oasis showing false image of total reflection that is just excessive heat and nothing.
Recommend
0
Mar 24, 2016 07:59pm
What desecration of a national monument! The ones who came up with this idea and the ones who allowed this to happen should all receive punishment for this idiotic act of overzealous consumerism.
Recommend
0
Mar 24, 2016 08:32pm
Some one needs to remove them! Indeed, No civic sense !
Recommend
0
Mar 24, 2016 08:47pm
@Karachitee There is everything but three you mentioned; so why not make few rupees.
Recommend
0
Mar 24, 2016 09:38pm
This is temporary Advertisement for my Karachi Festival i think this is OK
Recommend
0
Mar 24, 2016 09:54pm
Who gave them permission for this....
Recommend
0
Mar 24, 2016 10:01pm
Totally disgraceful and disrespectful...what's next...Mazar-e-Quaid??? The company who paid for this kind of advertisement and the cantonment person who approved this ridiculous action should be punished infront of the whole city!!!
Recommend
0
Mar 24, 2016 10:12pm
Wow! What an act to market your greed. Pathetic & Condemnable. May have a political hand behind it. Why it was not torn down or taken down immediately?
Recommend
0
Mar 25, 2016 12:01am
I hate this billboards ruining my city and its beauty...I feel suffocated by them...in some places I cannot even see the sky from the road...these huge advertising billboards and hoarding are a safety hazard as well as an eyesore.
I am starting a campaign where I will use paintball guns and start defacing all these illegal billboards in the night. Anyone who wants to join in please contact me. They make my city ugly...I will make 'them' ugly!
Recommend
0
Mar 25, 2016 12:12am
Those ads are placed there by the consecration of KMC, I'm sure there palms are greased, it is so evident by show of innocence of not knowing whats going on there at the scene.
Recommend
0
Mar 25, 2016 01:33am
When a city become too big to manage, then it should be split up in several Municipalities, divisions, local bodies. Karachi's biggest threat to itself is its size. It needs to have a Master Plan. Better management, better educational policies, and all of that can solved by making smaller cities out of it. In the West, they have carved up little Townships and cities, but still call the Big City by its original name. The smaller cities should call part of the Karachi Metropolitan.
Recommend
0
Mar 25, 2016 04:20am
Karachi should be renamed to "Billboard city". Or better still; billboard forest! Because it is literally littered with billboards. It is become difficult to even see the sky without one of these damned things getting in your vision. I have adopted a silent policy; the more jarring and pervasive an ad is, the more actively I reject its products. I urge the others to adopt a similar mindset. This seems like the only way to reclaim the balance.
These rampant march to enact a billboard wherever you can find a 2x2 square foot area is demonstrative of a sick marketing mentality and depicts a sheer disregard - for the sensitivities of the people, their environment and their aesthetics.
People want to live in a neat clean and beautiful city and this greedy, get-in-your-face mentality has deprived people of that option. I remember a time when a side-walk was dotted with a tree - to retain some form of nature in a cemented structure. Now, all those squares are used for billboards.
Recommend
0
Mar 25, 2016 04:29am
Thank you billboarders. You have succeeded where most others failed. People (as is obvious from the comments) seem united in their dislike for the likes of you.
Next step; start boycotting any company that does this pervasive advertisement.
Recommend
0
Mar 25, 2016 04:56am
They should be prosecuted along with the city official who permitted this company to put their ads. Unacceptable.
Unity, faith, discipline is not for sale.
Recommend
0
Mar 25, 2016 06:17am
Now that the Teen Talwar monument is washed off of all the ads we need not complain.
However, the long-term solution would be an educated citizenry and an effective regulation against posting unauthorized bills and posters.
Recommend
0
Mar 25, 2016 06:23am
Ridiculous ! Thsse three talwar symbolise out Unity , faith and discipline !
Recommend
0
Mar 25, 2016 08:23am
Marketing paraphernalia covering Karachi's iconic Teen Talwar (Three Swords) monument in Clifton must be considered as a criminal offense. This cannot be done without the connivance of the KMC's District Metropolitan Corporation advertisement director. He should be arrested forthwith and tried in the court of law for mutilation of structure of national interest.
Recommend
0
Mar 25, 2016 08:41am
Abominable and sickening! Wall chalkings, graffiti, religious slogans, posters convening dates of urs, quacks advertisements, you name it. It's all there. Karachi has become a DUMP and SUMP.
The only presentable and beautiful walls are the Karachi School of Arts or Indus Gallery on M T Khan road. Salams
Recommend
0
Mar 25, 2016 09:34am
It is a very bad news and issues in our country. In other countries they save their Historical places and symbols but unfortunately no any political party even social party raise voice about any violence of the historical places. We ask to Province Government/KMC/CBC about this bad governance being a citizen.
Recommend
0
Mar 25, 2016 10:51am
Just Take those damn adverts off! Such a pathetic idea of marketing!
Recommend
0
Mar 25, 2016 11:47am
This is disgusting. The illegal advertiser are to be punished. If not then the officials are to be charged!
Recommend
0
