If you were wondering what those weird faux street signs around town were the past week, you need wonder no longer: they’re gone.
Budget airline HK Express has yanked the signs after people — a district councilor among them — complained that the PR stunt was confusing drivers and ran the risk of having pedestrians walk into them.
The signs were part of an online campaign/game celebrating the second anniversary of the airline’s direct flight from Hong Kong to Takamatsu, a port city on Japan’s Shikoku Island.
The game, called Hunt n Fly, was launched on Friday, and required participants to find the purple signs, which had been placed underneath actual road signs around the city.
Players then had to scan a QR code on the signs, each of which featured the name of a landmark in Takamatsu.
Players had until July 22 to collect as many points as they can, and top prizes included a pair of round-trip tickets to Takamatsu.
However, after receiving a number of complaints from netizens saying the signs could disrupt traffic, HK Express announced on Facebook last night that they have suspended the game and removed all existing signs.
“In no way have we intended to cause any inconvenience amongst the community,” the statement read.
For those of you who had already started the game and were wondering what to do with all those points you had accumulated, HK Express wrote on Facebook that starting from 6pm this evening, they will be bringing the game back but with “new mechanics” and told followers to stay tuned for updates.
https://www.facebook.com/HKExpress/posts/855788417953173
Tat Cheng — a Civic Party district councillor for the Eastern district where many of the signs have been spotted — wrote on Facebook yesterday morning that many people thought that this game was supported by the government because they were underneath government road signs and because HK Express did not put their logo on any of the signs.
Cheng also told Apple Daily yesterday that some people had even complained the signs were placed too low and that some pedestrians could hit their heads on these signs.
A spokesperson from the Highways Department told Ming Pao that adverts are not allowed to be placed on government road signs, while a spokesperson from the Food and Environmental Hygiene Department (FEHD) told the newspaper that anyone who puts a poster on government property can be fined up to HK$10,000 (US$1,300.)
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