"It's disgusting!" a Moroccan friend told us. It took a moment to understand what he was talking about. Then he pointed the signs out and we had to agree. The advertising signs are quite discrete in a way, but that does not take away from the fact that they further degrade the streetscapes of the Medina.
Fortunately a lot of people have also found them inappropriate and, as one cafe owner told The View from Fez, "First it is Coke and next it will be MacDonalds".
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Fortunately a lot of people have also found them inappropriate and, as one cafe owner told The View from Fez, "First it is Coke and next it will be MacDonalds".
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| Does the Medina need signs like this? |
Hopefully the signs will disappear in a few weeks..
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10 comments:
As a visitor to Fez, I was surprised to see such signs. I hope somebody takes them away.
C'est comme ça qu'une ville ancrée dans la tradition perd son âme...
Mais ce n'est pas demain l'éveil...
I actually like the signs. What's disguisting about it? Can't modern times not be integrated into an historical traditional environment? I am originally from Fez and this city has always been in a way commercial (maybe not noticable to foreigners). There is nothing wrong with coca cola signs and Mc Donalds signs, nothing disguisting or degrading about it.
Well, it takes all types! I also live in Fez and I hate the creeping commercialism
It is indeed how a city looses its soul
Someone actually likes the signs? Which part of "World Heritage" do they not understand? I am sad for people like that who do not understand sensitivity.
Miles Lodge UK
Is this really the first time we've seen a Coke logo in the medina? They seem to be on the sides of a lot of drinks fridges throughout the medina, and we see Coke crates on the back of horses and donkeys daily. To say nothing of the fact that Coke has been around in Morocco for many, many years.
While I'm no fan of 'creeping commercialism' at least this example is somewhat sensitive, being apparently hand-painted and in muted colours.
Surely this is far better than the garish digitally-printed, illuminated restaurant signs that dot the medina, such as the one across from Thami's restaurant, that no-one seems to complain about.
Has anyone complained about carossas sporting what is essentially advertising for some of the local Riads. Or does is it the size of the commercial venture that determines whether or not the advertising is considered 'disgusting'?
That they are subtle, does not make them better. If people do not stand up against the little things, then we deserve what we get. The idea that this is about integration into an historical environment is disingenuous. Coca-culture is insidious.
Leo, it's true that 'just because they are subtle, does not make them better', I never suggested that. Rather I was suggesting it just makes them somewhat less offensive and garish, particularly in comparison to some of the badly designed, contemporary backlit signs that adorn the medina.
'If people do not stand up …Coca-culture is insidious' Barn doors, bolted horse anyone? The medina is already rife with advertising signage from Meditel to Coke, there are shops selling whirlpool fridges and LG flat screen TVs but for some reason this one sign is picked out … ? It all seems a little disingenuous.
When over the years I heard my guests comments go from "this is authentic morocco, where tourists are the side line to daily life - the main event" to the more recent "wow I feel like I'm in Disneyland!", I realised that the destroy & replicate restoration, new concrete archways, proposed canals and shameful concealment of graveyards was all too much. Even culturally sensitive Coke signs hint at the stirrings of a much larger corporate takeover.
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