If you aren’t into cats staring at you from every direction, this new advertising campaign will be a nightmare. But it’s also sort of adorable. In London’s Clapham Common Tube station all ads have been replaced with pictures of cats — the turnstiles, the ads on the wall, anywhere there would be an ad, there’s a cat just grilling you. It’s part of a crowdfunded campaign by Citizens Advertising Takeover Service (or CATS, get it?), which is run by Glimpse, to take the cash out of your commute.
The founder of Glimpse, James Turner, told CNN, “Instead of asking you to buy something, we’re asking you to think about what’s really valuable in your life. It might not be cats, but it’s probably something you can’t find in the shops.” To make it extra valuable, the photos are all of cats stuck in a shelter at Battersea Dogs & Cats Home and Cats Protection. The whole campaign was the result of a Kickstarter that raised £23,000 (about $30,360) to make this subway cat magic happen. That’s a lot of money for cat pictures.
Back in April, the group said on its crowdfunding page, “‘Wouldn’t it be great not to worry about the holiday we can’t afford, the car we don’t need, or the body we don’t have? Imagine a world where public spaces made you feel good.”
Clapham Common Tube station is being taken over by cats ?? pic.twitter.com/eHu1WLx377
— BBC News England (@BBCEngland) September 13, 2016
Well, yes. Yes it would. The group plans on doing other similar projects, and the next time they replace ads, it looks like dogs will be taking over the station. There should be a trigger warning before you buy your Oyster card, because depending on what kind of person you are, these kinds of takeovers are either amazing or traumatizing. Like, just don’t ever do it with snakes, OK, everyone?
Original by Karen Fratti