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(#128) BORDEAUX: |
"Defense de affiche," or "post no bills," is painted on every wall in Paris. During times of civil unrest, this injunction is honored more in the breach than the observance, but the day when the City's walls were gay with commercial speech is long gone. The leisurely pedestrian of the last century took in an eyeful of posters on his way to and fro, but when the automobile gave his feet wings, stationary advertising turned into a blur. By 1925 the radio filled the ear where once posters had filled the eye. After The War, the old-fashioned clutter of tattered and outdated posters, layer upon layer, got to be too much, and the strictly-regulated advertising kiosk replaced anarchic hoardings. Television advanced the art of commercial communication further yet, and posters-silent and motionless-retreated once again. By comparison with the shrill yammering of the airwaves, the quiet persuasions of an advertising poster are almost refreshing.
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