The Czech capital of Prague launched a new advertising campaign “No spoilers. See it Live,” on the streets of New York City to attract U.S. tourists. The photos highlight popular landmarks in Prague—but they’re blurred out—to inspire Americans to see it in person. It’s a collaboration by Prague Airport, CzechTourism, Prague City Tourism and the tourism hub for Central Bohemia.
The OHH ads will be displayed in 1,000 locations across the New York City subway stations. There will also be 80 advertising spaces in Manhattan’s 5th Avenue/53rd Street station.
The official tourism website of the City of Prague displays a pixelated picture of Church of Our Lady Týn before fully revealing itself. Big bold letters state “You need to experience it,” welcome you to the site and right under it a description of all of the “magical” moments you can have in the city.
“Seeing the Prague skyline for the first time, watching the sunset disappear behind the silhouette of the Prague Castle, walking across the 600-year-old Charles Bridge… these are experiences you will remember for the rest of your life. To avoid ruining that first magical moment, we won‘t show you everything just yet – No spoilers!” the page states.
According to the Prague Airport’s board of directors chair Václav Řehoř, the number of passengers on direct flights to North America has increased by about 67 percent.
“Next year, we are expecting further increases thanks to a new line to Newark. This confirms the high potential of the US for increasing the number of connections to Prague,” Řehoř stated in a press release.
There has been a rise in tourism in the Czech Republic. In 2017, the Czech Statistical Office reported there was a record number of 20 million tourists and about 850-thousand of those were foreign. The Czech capital also made MasterCard‘s Global Destination Cities Index of the world’s most visited cities in 2016 and 2017.
This isn’t the first advertising campaign to play with the concept of “censored,” “blurred” or “pixelated” images. In The Raw sweetener famously published Craigslist personal ads with blurred dessert plates back in 2012. In 2015, Finnish beer brand Karhu—in response to restrictive legislation on alcoholic beverage advertising—pixelated the company’s beverage in a campaign poking fun at the tightening laws.
