Anonymous Love Letter (Tel Aviv, 1999)

Working for an advertising company, I wrote this anonymous love letter which was placed on dozens of Billboards all over the city. It is a letter of a broken hearted man to the woman who broke his heart. People stood in line to read this letter; some claimed that it was written to them.

The campaign was meant to strengthen the reputation of this specific type of billboards (see picture) and prove to advertisers that even if those contain texts, they have large exposure.

It went a little bit out of hand, this campaign. There was a minor scandal around it which was covered in the media. The campaign was eventually led into an anti climax, due to some strategic mistakes which derived from the fact that nobody expected such a strong reaction.  I was too young to handle the effect that it had, mostly on people who believed that the letter was written for them. I think I got a bit scared of the power of advertising.

Here are just a few of the many articles which were written about in the big newspapers of Israel:

''Mystery: who is the disappointed lover who wrote a poem for his lover on billboards in Tel-Aviv?
It is not yet clear if these are love torments or a brilliant advertising move.''

"IT WASN'T ME"

Dan Shilon, Adam Baruch, Kobi Oz, Etgar Keret and Dudu Topaz had to deny their involvement in the letter."

Some of Israel's key figures were suspected to write the anonymous love letter. These are their reactios to the 'accusations'.

They all denied of course.

''Now it is clear: The billboard of the disappointed lover - an advertising initiative''