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Eye-catching or eyesore? Motorists weigh in on LED ad trucks
Lights, action: An LED van displaying advertisements passes Jl
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ights, action: An LED van displaying advertisements passes Jl. Sudirman in Central Jakarta on Monday. Motorists have complained that the bright lights from the screens are distracting at night. (JP/Jerry Adiguna)
Dealing 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.
Dimas added that the trucks were just like any form of outdoor advertising.
“They’re not that annoying to me, as the trucks move rather slowly. The lights can be a bit distracting, but it’s not a problem. It’s just like looking at large writings on large billboards, but right on the streets.”
The mobile trucks are mainly operated by advertising companies StickEarn and Ming Promotion, with a fleet of 50 box truck cars with LEDs powered by a generator inside the cargo.
StickEarn cofounder Archie Carlson said mobile brand advertising had been part of the company’s business since it was founded in 2017.
“Mobile LED trucks have become a need [for advertisers] because of the high volume of moving vehicles in cities, especially in Jakarta,” Archie told the Post on Tuesday.
The trucks cover 10 routes approved by the city administration and the Jakarta Police’s traffic unit, Archie said, namely Jl. Sudirman-Thamrin, Semanggi-Citralang, Kuningan-Gatot Subroto, Harmoni-Kota, Yos Sudarso-Kelapa Gading, Gandaria City-Pondok Indah Mall, Pantai Indah Kapuk-Tugu Tani-Menteng, Kemang-Citiywalk-Kota Kasablanka.
With the already heavy traffic on Jakarta streets, StickEarn shot down concerns that the trucks only add to congestion.
Archie said the company had set the brightness of each of its LED screens accordingly as to not disturb other users and cooperated with the Jakarta Transportation Agency and Jakarta Traffic Police.
The company also pays billboard taxes to the government. In Jakarta, LEDs used as advertising, or videotrons, are subject to a billboard tax as mandated in Bylaw No. 12/2011, which is 25 percent from the billboard’s rental value.
The trucks are limited to 40 kilometers per hour, and in tight intersections, the back screen would be connected to a front camera, Archie said.
Meanwhile, Jakarta Transportation Agency head Syafrin Liputo conceded that there were no specific regulations for LED advertising trucks operating in the city.
“The current mobile LED trucks are a kind of box truck according to their SKRB [Manufacturer Design Permit] but modified as a mobile advertising vehicle,” Syafrin told the Post on Wednesday.
He said the Transportation Ministry would be the one responsible for drafting a regulation for these specific types of vehicles and services if needed.
Meanwhile, Asian Development Bank energy specialist Florian Kitt said Jakarta already had environmental problems such as land subsidence, bad traffic and emissions.
“So, to me, it doesn't make sense to allow light trucks on the road that transport neither goods nor people, add to the number of cars on the road and have even more emissions as they also need power for the LED screens,” Florian told the Post on Wednesday.
He added that if Jakarta wanted less traffic and better air, it needed to take vehicles off the road.
Mobile LED billboards are relatively new, but some cities in other parts of the world have already considered banning them.
Key West, Florida, in the United States, banned mobile advertising trucks in July 2019, citing them as a safety hazard in traffic. In April 2019, New York City banned floating digital billboards on navigable waters around the city, deeming them to be an eyesore.
