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Page 1 of 4 In this article, the banners that you and I so often see along roads, particularly within HDB housing estates will be the hot topic we'll be talking about.
Approximately 80% of Singaporeans, estimated to be 3.6 million people live in estates spread across the island. Based on an average household of 5, this translate to approximately 900,000 households or flat units. It is too significant a number to be ignored whether viewed from a socio-political perspective or as a consumer block. Three major groups cover the management functions of these estates, with the Housing & Development Board being the developer and lessor. The management and maintenance of common areas are undertaken by the Town Councils, consisting of elected Members of Parliament and their appointees. Lastly, Grassroots Organizations under the purview of the Peoples' Association providing the lifetstyle amenities and programmes. Banners have been found to be an effective and cost effective way to communicate with residents within the estates. The number of banners used have increased for various reasons and in a short span of time. The number of events and programmes organized by grassroots organizations have largely contributed to the increased. Government agencies such as the Singapore Police Force, the National Environmental Agency are increasingly using banners for their crime and diesease awareness & prevention programmes. Industrial innovations also added to the increase with materials used for printing banners getting cheaper and more resilient to harsh weathering. Machines running are producing at greater speed with better image quality. Graphic softwares and peripheral supports too are advancing at speed that many have found it hard to catch up. Hence it not unsafe to say that banners have gained such an advantage that they could now rival the mass media for eyeballs. What do we make of this trend that has become a very part of our lives? Has the mass invasion of banners into our living space made any difference to the ambience? Are we attracted to the banners and have the contents they carry been helpful or beneficial? What can we do to make banners more effective and popular medium. The pictures displayed show a variety of banner designs, and the different methods used to display them. More discussions follows.
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