Litter

If you park your car on the street in Paris, chances are that you are going to end up with at least one (if not three or four) advertisements each day stuck under your windshield wiper.  I don't know if this strategy actually results in more people signing up for yoga classes, buying oriental rugs, or getting their cars washed.  I suppose it must; otherwise, why would the advertisers continue to shell out money for it?

Busy self important Parisians being who they are, most of these flyers end up not tucked into agendas, briefcases, or purses, or even in the trash can but in the gutter.  Why people can't walk to the corner and throw them in the city's bin, or even toss them onto the passenger seat for later disposal, I can't fathom.  I think it has something to do with the fact that street sweepers (both human and machine) exist for a reason and no self respecting person would wish to deprive them of the satisfaction of exercising their livelihood.  Do I sound sarcastic?  Well, yes.  It's just that most streets don't get swept everyday so the rest of us have to endure the sight of these ads in the gutter, mixed with cigarette butts and heaven knows what else, in a primordial soup of yuckiness.

So, of the many bones I have to pick with France Telecom, here's another one.  Yesterday morning, virtually every parked car in the quartier was graced with not one but sometimes two to three of these sticker advertisements for Orange's latest cell phone gimmick.

And because these were actually stickers with some kind of adhesive on the back, just what else happened?  A gutter full of sticker backs.   Thanks, Orange.  Hope you sell a gazillion more cell phones.  And maybe with a little of that dough, you can come clean up this mess.