What would ads look like if we could afford not to have them?

Big floral lighting arrangements in the middle of the roads?

andar Seri Begawan has two sides of society; most people work for the government and their housing, transport and education is all paid for by the filthy rich Sultan. Those who work in the private sector live in a slum out on the water in stick houses. Socio-economics aside, it’s a society that doesn’t require advertising to fund media like NZ, AUS, UK, USA etc do.

And yet consumers still need to know what phone plans are right for them or where get a new TV, and businesses still need to promote themselves. When I was in Brunei last year I saw only two forms of advertising. They had store sponsored flower things (pictured above) and those billboards which change between messages every couple of minutes (pictured below just outside the water slum).

The moral of this story? If you can afford gold plated council offices you can relegate billboards to the slums and have sponsored public art. Until you find that oil mine, suck it up and deal with display advertising as part of your life (attn: Auckland Council).