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Eye-catching or an eyesore? Motorists weigh in on LED advertising trucks
The trucks are limited to 40 kilometers per hour, and in tight intersections, the back screen would be connected to a front camera.
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A mobile LCD unit runs across the Sudirman area, Jakarta, on January 27, 2020. (JP /Jerry Adiguna)
D
ealing with Jakarta traffic means coming across almost all kinds of vehicles, from cars, and motorbikes to buses and trucks, and more recently, box trucks with LED advertisements.
Fitted with blinking LED screens on each side of the cargo structure, these vehicles are becoming a more common sight on Jakarta streets, eliciting different reactions from motorists.
For Rakhmat Widya Pratama, 29, who works for a state-owned company headquartered in Central Jakarta, they are a distraction and a nuisance. Rakhmat uses a motorcycle to commute to work and often encounters these mobile advertisements on main thoroughfares such as Jl. Sudirman, Jl. MH Thamrin and Jl. Rasuna Said.
“When riding a motorcycle, we can still overtake them to avoid them. But in a car, especially during traffic jams, they can be a literal eyesore. They are too bright,” Rakhmat told The Jakarta Post on Tuesday.
“I’ve even spotted those trucks at night, instead of looking at their ads, [I look away]. It’s okay if they are allowed to operate, but they should be limited to 5 p.m. Any later than that, the LED screens are blinding.”
Some, however, are defending the mobile ads, saying that they were an innovative idea.
“They are quite eye-catching so they [the ads] always catch my attention. I usually encounter them on busy streets, even during traffic jams. It’s an alternative approach in digital-era advertising I think,” said Dimas Trisuseno, 29, a civil servant.
