North Korean Bus Stops

https://www.dw.com/en/pyongyangs-bus-stops-depict-north-korean-landscapes/g-38759659

Got tipped off on this by a friend and I think it makes an intriguing point towards our project. North Korea's lack of media 'freedom' is well documented and I'm not about to try and argue that using images of landscape instead of advertisements is anything but propaganda. It is seemingly used to instill - or reinforce - that sense of national unity and national pride that totalitarian regimes rely on.

I am also not about to claim that a lack of branded advertisements makes North Korea somehow 'better' or less abusive towards its citizens. But what I will say is that whether the advertisements at bus stops show Korean landscape or an advert for the new LEGO Movie, it is just a way of somebody else making you do what they want.

Looking into how adverts make up the colour of the streets in a city, I could argue that the uniformity of the buildings juxtaposed (big words, check me out) by the diversity of advertisements makes said adverts even more eyecatching - you look at them because there's nothing else to look at. Alternatively, even if you don't actively look at them, you are subconsciously consuming because they are what stand out, not the aging off-white buildings of New Cross. 

Just imagine, for a second, that the bus stops outside uni displayed images of the rolling landscapes of the Lake District, the Yorkshire Dales and the South Downs instead of 'Pure XS Aftershave'. Chances are it would be a much calming effect, allowing your brain some semblance of relaxation compared to the dawning realisation that you can't afford to see Blackkkslansman AND The Favourite this week, so now you can't post your Oscar predictions on Twitter. Would it just make you want to spend a weekend in the Peak District instead? 

Either way, you have to hand it to North Korea - at least they don't do everything in their power to make their citizens truly believe they are 'free'. They will consume Korea and they will like it, and I think that London could maybe do with a bit more landscape too.