This is a billboard on 7th Street in Oakland that I pass on my way to work everyday.
“The Real Israel. Different from the Israel in the news.”
That’s the caption under a photo of five attractive women dressed for going out and all smiles as they cross a city street.
I suppose it’s some kind of tourism ad for Israel. I’ve never seen this anywhere else. West Oakland is an unusual place for this billboard. If anyone has more information about it, I’d love to hear it.
In the meantime, I’m thinking that Israel would be a great place to visit…
Update March 6, 2007: I found this billboard in Emeryville at the southwest corner of Powell and Hollis.
I briefly saw this billboard — a third one — by a convenience store across from Nystrom Magnet School on Harbour Way South in Richmond, California. My dad saw it first, but when I went back there with a camera, it had already been replaced with an insurance ad.
dan said
i remember going to israel in 1988 during the first infitada after a year in england. the images in the english press were much worse even than here and you’ld have thought that the country would be a rubble strewn hell like i imagine lots of iraq is today. instead it looked and felt like the billboard above for the most part. even though the country is so small, the fighting can feel very remote.
with bombings way down compared to a year or 2 ago, i bet it feels quite peaceful today in many places.
wellaontheweb said
I always thought of Israel as being composed of war-torn ruins and demilitarized zones for the religious tour groups to pass through. It’s powerful for this modestly sized billboard and a single image to make me re-think Israel as a country where People Like Me live. Obviously I need to get out more.
Gabe said
I should push for a campaign to show a nightclub in Lebanon or something
It’s to the north of Israel and yes, women are like the ones you see on that billboard well the areas where my family is from at least.
Humm I have some great pictures to show you the “before and after” war affected areas. I’ll work on a post on my blog in the next few days.
where is this billboard specifically? said
do you have a specific cross street?
wellaontheweb said
This billboard is on 7th Street between Union and Magnolia. You have to be heading
eastsouth on 7th Street to see it.I found a couple more billboards with The Real Israel ad on it. One was on Harbour Way in Richmond, but when I went back there with a camera, it had already been covered up with an insurance ad.
Another is in Emeryville. I’ll post the photo soon.
where is this billboard specifically? said
yeah theres one in the corner of alcatraz and shattuck in berkeley/oakland
but you have to be heading west on alcatraz to see it on your left hand side.
man someone should change this to the REAL ISRAEL WE ARENT SEEING REPRESENTED IN THE NEWS.
A new Israel billboard! « A Consumer Retorts said
[...] March 19, 2007 at 11:24 pm · Filed under billboards, advertising I was in downtown Oakland over the weekend, but didn’t join the Barack Obama rally. Instead, I drank plenty of bubble tea and roamed Chinatown. Then I saw a billboard related to the Real Israel ads I’ve been documenting. [...]
naisioxerloro said
Hi.
Good design, who make it?
name said
Hello!,