Weird Ads With No Context & Brand Appear in MRT Stations

If you’ve taken the train this week, you would have seen the strange “Cards Against Humanity”-esque advertisements along the train platforms.

Yes, the strange advertisements with no context and brand.

If you’ve yet to come across these advertisements, here’s what you need to know about them.

Strange Ads With No Context and Brand Appear in MRT Stations

This week, commuters found themselves confused by the new advertisements put up at some MRT stations across Singapore. These advertisements consisted of white text on a black background and had strange takes on them.

For instance, one such advertisement stated: “Micro-managers are more well-liked than cool bosses”.

Another variation of the advertisement stated: “Chicken rice is more flavourful than nasi lemak”. On the other side of the MRT doors, the advertisement stated: “Nasi lemak is more satisfying than chicken rice”.

Trying to start a hawker war leh, this one.

Another variation included a pair of statements comparing whether looks or personality was more attractive.

Netizens also spotted a variation which pits the “atas coffee enjoyers” against “kopi enjoyers”.

The strangest thing about these advertisements was that they did not have any advertising brand indicated anywhere.

Huh? Someone jiak ba bo sai pang is it? Or too much money, nowhere to spend?

And if you thought that Outram Park MRT station was the only MRT station with these advertisements, you’re wrong. Netizens have also reported seeing these advertisements in MRT stations islandwide, including Woodlands MRT station and Pasir Ris MRT station.

Some have even reported seeing these advertisements at bus stops.

Netizens Speculate the Purpose Behind the Advertisements

At this point, you might be thinking: “Why do these advertisements exist in the first place?”

Well, many others have wondered the same, and have taken to social media to share what they think the purpose behind these advertisements was.

Among the suggested purposes, the most popular one appears to be this — the advertisements were meant to allow commuters to indicate their opinions by standing on the side of MRT doors which they agree with. This makes way for those alighting from the train in the middle.

Taking the coffee advertisement as an example, if you think atas coffee is better than traditional kopi, you’ll stand on the left side of the MRT doors. If you think otherwise, you’ll stand on the right side of the MRT doors.

What if you don’t like coffee at all? Stand in the middle ah?

While this theory appears to be rather sound, other netizens have pointed out that the theory doesn’t make sense when considering the micro-manager example.

If you look closely at the micro-manager advertisement, the statements on both sides of the MRT doors appear to favour micro-managers.

So, what’s an alternative theory for why these advertisements have suddenly sprung up?

Well, other netizens have suggested that perhaps this is an advertisement for a “Cards Against Humanity Singapore Edition”, given that the advertisements were in the card game’s aesthetic style.

Some have even taken the view that the advertisements were meant to distract commuters from the recent massive MRT breakdown.

For now, while we can’t be sure what exactly the advertisements are for, one thing we can be sure of is this — the advertisements successfully stirred up arguments online between commuters lah.