“Khoan Cat Be Tong” Street Art Vietnam

Advertising paper or graffiti has always been on trend in Hanoi when hundreds or even thousands of little stickers or marks are offhandedly sprayed on the walls and even electric poles.

Every day, those papers appear unprecedentedly at almost every single corner of the streets, especially neighborhoods and apartment buildings simply because those are high-populated areas with numerous of households. The most typical and common advertising notes are all about “concrete drilling and perforating /cutting service”. Those companies that own these “creative marketing strategy” have spontaneously created an ugly thing or an incredible street art?

One question came to mind: “Why are these advertisement notes pasted or painted on walls but not in other forms?” The locals’ answer is simple:

“People usually neglect brochures and leaflets!”

That explains why these papers get pasted and painted in public so that everyone passing by can catch the attention by looking up on the walls or electric poles. About 20 years back, these advertising lines already appeared on the walls but it can hardly be seen as of density as nowadays. Although the origin of this “trend” still stays unknown, one thing in certainty, they are getting more and more popular and sooner or later becoming a modern and effective advertising method anymore.

These colorful lines and papers of concrete drilling and perforating service, in short-term, have created a kind of special feature for Hanoi. “Khoan Cat Be Tong” has even been shown in an exhibition called “Speeches of wall” by Lolo Zazar in 2012 at the lobby of L’Espace Hanoi. Local fashion label Ginko started using the design in its clothing and accessories as well. However, these “Khoan Cat Be Tong” marks are still somewhat considered a sore in the eyes for many people. Some neighborhoods even made a big whiteboard called “information board” to let everyone use it as a mean of advertising by sticking all the leaflets on if in need.

To see more photos, check the open album below or go to Flickr:
Photo Album Flickr
(Please use the left/right arrows to navigate in the files of the open album)

Words by Trang Nguyen

Photos by Nhan Tran