{"id":18817,"date":"2019-04-12T12:58:54","date_gmt":"2019-04-12T11:58:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.urban75.org\/blog\/?p=18817"},"modified":"2019-04-12T12:58:54","modified_gmt":"2019-04-12T11:58:54","slug":"the-human-billboards-and-sandwich-men-on-the-streets-of-soho-15-years-ago-london-history-april-2004","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.urban75.org\/blog\/the-human-billboards-and-sandwich-men-on-the-streets-of-soho-15-years-ago-london-history-april-2004\/","title":{"rendered":"The human billboards and sandwich men on the streets of Soho 15 years ago – London history, April 2004"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"London<\/p>\n

Fifteen years ago, you could barely walk around the centre of London without banging into some poor soul hanging on to an oversized placard advertising a computer fair, golf sale, ticket sale or perpetual ‘closing down sale.’<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\"London<\/p>\n

As time went by, the human billboards multiplied in number with some placards taking on immense, pavement blocking proportions.<\/p>\n

Eventually, Westminster council had enough, and in August 2008 a ban on ‘portable signs’ was implemented in the West End:<\/p>\n

From next month anyone found using a board to advertise their wares or religious message will face fines of up to \u00a32,500.<\/p>\n

Daniel Astaire, a Westminster councillor, said that “cheap and ugly” signs were blighting areas such as Oxford Street and Covent Garden.<\/p>\n

“This is a world-class city, not a junk yard,” he said.<\/p>\n

“No one wants to fight their way past neon-coloured makeshift signs.”<\/p>\n

The change is part of a \u00a310 million plan, spearheaded by New West End Company, a retailer association, to improve the ambience of the shopping district. [—<\/a>]<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Advertisers were, however, quick to adapt and curious and innovative outfits like this were seen around the West End two years later<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Human billboards of the past<\/h2>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

I documented the rise and fall of ‘sandwich men’ in an earlier article on urban75<\/a>:<\/p>\n

Much like today, London was plastered with advertising, with armies of chalkers and ‘external paper hangers’ decorating blank walls, empty shops and wooden hoardings with advertisements.<\/p>\n

The combined inconveniences of an advertising tax and increased competition for poster space led advertisers to a simple conclusion – make the messages become mobile!<\/p>\n

Described by the writer William Weir as ‘peripatetic placards’, Prince P\u00fcckler-Muskae gives an interesting account of how the technique was employed in the 1820s:<\/p>\n

“Formerly people were content to paste them up; now they are ambulant. One man had a pasteboard hat, three times as high as other hats, on which is written in great letters, ‘Boots at twelve shillings a pair – warranted’.<\/p>\n

Another carried a sort of banner on which is represented a washerwoman and the inscription, ‘Only three-pence a shirt’.”<\/p>\n

Read more here: London placard carriers and ‘sandwich men’, 1820 -1840<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Men and boys with advertising boards; standing on footpath, with boards including advertisements for Patent medallic pens and a masquerade at the Argyll Rooms. c.1825 Watercolour by\u00a0George Scharf<\/a>\u00a0<\/em>\u00a0[—<\/a>]<\/p>\n

Charles Dickens described these advertisers as “a piece of human flesh between two slices of paste board.”<\/p>\n

It was claimed in The Times in mid-1823 that such human billboards were a London invention – while a familiar sight in London, the “biped advertisement” was new in Paris at that time. [—<\/a>]<\/p>\n

\"London<\/p>\n

The big hotspots for human billboards in 2004 were Piccadilly Circus, Leicester Square, Oxford Street and Tottenham Court Road, which was then the<\/em> place to go for consumer electronics and the ubiquitous ‘computer fairs.’<\/p>\n

See: The decline of Tottenham Court Road, former electronics capital of London<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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A bit more history<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Perhaps the most famous human billboard of all was Stanley Owen Green<\/a> (1915-1993), known as the Protein Man, who patrolled Oxford Street with a placard recommending “protein wisdom” for 25 years, from 1968 until 1993.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

This late Victorian pamphlet advertises a ‘Sandwichmen’s Fund’ with a Christmas dinner for the ‘hopeless, penniless and friendless’ workers.<\/p>\n

Chat about human bullboards<\/h2>\n

Join in the discussion on London street advertising here<\/a><\/p>\n

More reading<\/h2>\n

London placard carriers and ‘sandwich men’, 1820 -1840<\/a><\/p>\n

London human billboard photo collection<\/a><\/p>\n

George Scharf, Chronicler of 19th C. London<\/a><\/p>\n

Sandwich boards face street ban<\/a> [BBC Aug 2008]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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