In Singapore the subway company has launched an excruciating campaign to teach common courtesy on their rides. They’ve been scratching their heads for a long time to figure out how to teach people the most basic of concepts – move to the centre of the bus/train, don’t hover near the doors if you’re not getting off, give up your seat for someone needy, don’t eat in stations and trains, mind the gap, stand clear of the yellow line, etc. Now it looks like they’ve really run out of ideas.
Singaporeans are notoriously self-centered – despite the many public service messages about giving up your seat to pregnant women or the elderly, every day you’ll see some young person who’s planted in the reserved seat and is just sleeping away/faking sleep while some expectant mother or frail grand-dad is right nearby. By coming out with this sort of chirpy, in-your face campaign it just shows how desperate they’ve become in trying to draw attention to this issue. “Must make general populace more ‘gracious’, can’t we all just get along?”
It really makes my commute much more unpleasant to hear this sort of noise pollution, and if I crank the Black Sabbath on my iPod loud enough to block out these awful jingles I’m going to harm my hearing. There’s no winning, because when you’re trapped in a sardine can there’s nowhere else to go.
Just my opinion, man, just my opinion. What’s yours? Watch the videos and let me know.
This commercial is more elegant and gets the message across without the chirpy melodies and icky vamping (even if the shiny happy people at the end are just a bit too pleased with themselves).