Posterscope’s small step in the fight against Zika is making a large impact on the Out-of-Home advertising industry. Posterscope USA CEO, Helma Larkin, sat down with the hosts of Mornings with Maria to discuss their new billboard and “smell technology” that kills mosquitoes potentially carrying the Zika Virus.
Photo Courtesy of ADweek
“The billboard attracts and kills mosquitos based on the simulation of the sweat from a human being,” Larkin said. “We built technology into the billboard that has CO2 as well as Lactic Acid which comes across as a human being, attracting mosquitoes to it and trapping and killing them inside.”
But don’t be alarmed – only mosquitos are able to smell this billboard.
“This one is definitely only attractive to the Aedes mosquitoes in particular.”
Currently, there are two billboards with this Zika-killing technology. Both billboards are located in Rio and killing approximately 100 mosquitoes per day. They are working on a third that will also be placed in Rio. When asked about the objective for the mosquito-zapping campaign, Larkin had an inspiring response.
“The objective was not to eradicate mosquitos. It was to bring attention to the fact that we need to develop ways that we can eradicate Zika and to drive action around the world.”
Photo by: Huffington Post
Posterscope isn’t keeping this powerful technology to themselves. They are encouraging people from across the world to fight against Zika.
“We developed this as an open source platform. The blueprint is available to anyone who wants to take this concept to their part of the world.”
Larkin also had glowing remarks about the out-of-home industry as a whole, speaking to the broad possibilities that lie before advertisers and clients in the OOH space.
“…the great thing about out-of-home, about what we call outdoor advertising, [is that] it’s a blank canvas. If you think about outdoor as a structure, you can really have it do anything. We do this for top brands every day, and a lot of money is coming back into out-of-home because it is a blank canvas. It can drive conversation into television, into social or any form of media, and that’s the power of it.”
We couldn’t agree with you more, Posterscope! DOmedia is excited to be a part of the OOH industry. We are proud to see Posterscope taking active steps against Zika. Keep up the great work!
