The tongue in cheek suggestion is that those plastic covered giant round hay bales that lie in fields across the country would make perfect palettes for adverts and promotions.

“Every time I sit in the car and drive through the countryside I ask myself ‘why don't we make more use of our surroundings as an advertising tool?’  Everything from semi-permanent round hay bales to permanent structures can provide a home for communication,” says Horsten, who adds:  “For example, those hay bales just sit there and nobody really looks at them even though we all see them. Just imagine what they could look like— hamburgers, car tyres or even candy rolls.  This is possible, but the question is how?

“First you would need to have a solution to cover the large rolls with advertising media, say a plastic or a shrink wrap foil.  But these are difficult to manage and a very large number of linear meters would be needed to get the results. Even then there is no guarantee that it would look good.  So in hindsight transforming the bales into an advertising campaign is not as easy as we thought.”

The idea makes sense in one sense as the bales often lie in the fields for weeks in the summer, but there is a reason why they have not yet been used for advertising. This is because they would come under adverts controlled by the local planning authorities.

Local planners have powers to allow a variety of signs and outdoor adverts in certain situations and locations but Horsten’s idea would certainly transgress regulations laid out by the Government as they would be deemed temporary advertising—on a par with those put up around building sites and taken down once the building is complete.

There are nine different types of signs that do not need planning consent and these include flags, those associated with elections, and community events like jumble sales and fetes. One section is a possible loophole, and that is signs put up in enclosed areas such as football stadiums—a farm yard used as parking for a farm shop could be considered in this section.

Horsten also has his eye on more than hay bales however. In his cheeky missive he says: “You could even go a step further and think about the coverings that are being used on barns and greenhouses. Using greenhouses as an example, most use glass but some use white plastics coverings or even polyester, and it would be possible to print these with different technologies.

“With this approach bigger sized advertising billboards in fields or around the farm could be a reality today.  I have seen many greenhouses that are visible from the motorway so this must be an opportunity for advertising.  The production of these greenhouse projects is easy, as it is the same as large billboards. Multiple tiles can be printed and connected with each other to form one large image.”

All of these ideas would be breaking the planning rules and if they ever did get through, and would likely to be met with that other arbitrator of taste: the authors of complaint letters to newspapers.

The British Sign and Graphics Association (BSGA) spend considerable energy in monitoring local authorities who step over the line and abuse their powers by further limiting signage and outdoor advertising. They say on their website that they monitor local plans and, “wherever it is considered that there are unwarranted clauses or conditions that could affect the sign industry, the BSGA lodges a protest.”

The BSGA for instance had a recent spat with a council in Hampshire over proposed planning regulations in a conservation area which they believed was a case of a council overstepping their authority.

If you have an interesting story or a view on this news, then please e-mail news@signlink.co.uk

Follow Harry on: