Urban Vision's Clever Billboards Absorb Pollution

Let’s admit it: the world is facing an air pollution crisis. People all around the world are being suffocated because of the dense smog that covers crowded or developing cities. Global air pollution kills more than 6 million people each year — an alarming figure! In a desperate attempt to save themselves from the deadly effects of pollution, some people have even begun literally buying air!

Long and short-term strategies, like some restrictive regulations and policies, could help people improve our ecological behavior, but would this be enough to achieve a healthier world? Though it seems hard to believe, advertising could be the answer for reducing air pollution, at least in big cities. Ogilvy Italy has teamed up with the Italian outdoor media company Urban Vision and developed an innovative billboard that acts as an air-cleaning gadget.

Observe the brainchild of the two companies: “Ad/Sorbent,” an eco-friendly out-of-home (OOH) system that cleans air thanks to the special material in which it is wrapped in. Titled “The Breath,” the clever three-layer fabric, which was developed by Anemotech in collaboration with Marche Polytechnic University, captures and purifies air, lowering the concentration of polluting molecules in urban areas.

Designed to fight air pollution, the clever mechanism was materialized in a series of billboards that were recently exposed in big cities, such as Milan, Rome, and London. Although regular ad panels are used to help other companies sell their services, some commercials might still display products that may be harmful to the environment. On the other hand, the Ad-sorbing OOH ad doesn’t sell a specific item, but rather presents an ecological cause.

This bold eco-campaign, which will be presented at the Cannes Lions Festival 2017, reached impressive results. Within the first 15 days, they drew massive attention of both local and international press, in addition to absorbing the emissions produced by more than 67,000 cars. Most importantly, Urban Vision plans to “dress” all of its billboards with the special fabric by 2018, an initiative through which the company aims to eliminate emissions of nearly 14 million cars each year.