Bright Lights, Big City

One of the nice things about my apartment is the view I take in walking home from the train station. I can see the entire skyline, writ large. It's especially striking at night when all the buildings are lit up. Right now, in honor of Breast Cancer Awareness Month, many of the more prominent buildings have pink accent lights. The CNA Building, using lit office windows as gigantic pixels, has alternated between displaying a memory ribbon (like the pink ones honoring breast cancer survivors and victims) and the words "Go Sox" in honor of our South Side heroes' fantastic showing in the post-season.

Walking home earlier this evening, I noticed something very disturbing in the normally tranquil skyline. The newly minted Chase building (known until the recent merger as the Bank One building) was being used as a projection screen to advertise -- what else -- Chase's banking products.

As striking as the Chicago skyline is, and as much as it is a shrine to capitalism and commerce, I was a little dumbfounded by this latest crass advertising display. Clearly, Chase has the right to use their building for any legal activity they deem fit. But, come on, must we now be subjected to advertisements in multiple-story high lettering when taking in the awesome beauty of downtown Chicago at night? Is this really the impression we want to give visitors to the Windy City?

But what about Times Square, you might say. It's a huge, brightly lit advertisement that spreads its commercial messages 24/7 all year long. Despite its neverending neon/plasma screen incandescence, Times Square is hardly visible at street level once you've gone more than a few blocks up- or downtown. In contrast, the Chase building advertisement was easily visible to me on the street some twenty blocks away. Twenty blocks!!

I can't think of any place in Chicago that compares to Times Square, and frankly, I'm glad that I can't. Part of the charm of this city is its relative lack of glitz compared to cities like New York, Las Vegas, or Los Angeles. Tall buildings we have in abundance, and the Magnificent Mile certainly shines both day and night, from the gleaming marble of the Wrigley Building to the more muted but almost equally well lit Water Tower. But we're mercifully lacking in streetside Jumbotron TVs, and outside of the theater district there's precious little neon that isn't perched atop very high buildings.

So, if you're an advertising/PR person who works at Chase, and you're reading this, I implore you to put an end to this nonsense. Give me back my beautiful downtown view, senza your company tagline. Turn off the airplane search lights perched atop your building. You've spent a lot of money putting your company logo on the top of that building. Let it work its magic to sell your brand. I bet it will attract more customers than turning your upper floor facade into a marquee will.