Thinking Outside the Canvas: The Lost Art of Cinema Billboards in SouthKorea and India

Abstract

Cinema billboards are like most forms of print advertising: they aim to attract the target consumer by announcing a product’s existence, emphasizing its uniqueness, and providing basic information on its value. Their purpose is to sell a product that will not offer any immediate benefit in dealing with the toils of everyday life but an enjoyable reprieve from them instead. At the same time, as with fads and fashion, they also promise a marker of positive social distinction to the many consumers wishing to remain informed on the latest developments in a particular area of popular culture.1 But despite the importance of making people believe that the product is something they ought not to miss out on, providing more than basic information is no option: the appeal of the product must be instantaneous. A degree of sensationalism, suspense, or the promise of something not shown elsewhere is therefore crucial to the success of movie billboards and related marketing media.2 Another critical factor these days is the use of digital technology to target consumers at any place and time. But while posters could build momentum by way of the careful distribution of particular information over time or appear virtually everywhere for a limited period, in the past painted cinema billboards tied the experience of a movie to a particular cinema, relying on their shape, size, and content for maximum impact.