“Hello. Mother misses you.” Billboard creates buzz. But what is it?

Mother_Misses_You
Where's Father, then?

If you’ve driven along Federal Highway towards Petaling Jaya, you may have caught a glimpse of this un-branded billboard. I stumbled upon this billboard a couple of days ago, and only today managed to take a quick snap on my phone camera while driving today. Arresting would be a word to describe it.


The billboard is minimalist, with usage of space a designer (like me) would appreciate. A kid lies on a lush green carpet, carpet of green, holding a smartphone. Is he/she taking a selfie? Or a picture of the clear blue sky? Or could it be he’s/she’s video chatting?

Mother_Misses_You
Where’s Father, then?

The only text on the billboard is the line, “Hello. Mother misses you.” Cryptic, but no less arresting as a message.

So, it’s gotten me thinking. Is this a Public Service Announcement? The timing of it is suspect, it being smack in the middle of the Lunar New Year celebrations. Is it a reminder for us to call home? Is it a call to children to come home for festivities to see parents and family?

No branding. No logo. No other text. Not even a fancy URL, as do most teaser ‘ads’ have. Only I’m not too sure if this is an ad per se. If it was, it could be quite a clever, bigger campaign. Visual cues and tone-manner suggests a telco, but what if it was not?

Only questions so far. No answers. What do you think? How did the billboard make you feel? Leave your comments below.

Vernon
Vernon is the founder and chief editor of Vernonchan.com. A graphic designer by profession, he has a deep love for technology, cars, gadgets, food, and travel. He tweets too much and is also known as a caffeine bacterium ("life's too short for bad coffee"). Bleeds Blue (go Chelsea FC!) and considers BMW, Porsche, Alfa Romeo cars to have in the garage--hallmarks of a true petrolhead.