As PR stunts go, this will take some beating. Stick £1500 in five-pound notes to a billboard. Ask the locals to form an orderly queue. Stand back and watch the avaricious slaves of Mammon crawl all over each other in a rapacious attempt to pocket some ready money. Then laugh like a tomfool at the hilarious greed of your fellow man.
That’s what happened this morning down in Elephant and Castle. The property developers behind the regeneration of the ill-famed neighbourhood decided to drum up some publicity. And how!
The money-grab…began with an orderly queue as organisers tried to ensure only one note per person. But within minutes the true character of the locals appeared, with around 25 people pulling down as much as they could lay their hands on.
To be fair, that would have happened in any neighbourhood. We don’t care to speculate what might have happened if the true character of some of the locals had appeared. After all, Elephant & Castle is hardly a paragon of civility and decorum. Still, it looks like most people came away happy.
My ten-year-old son Kevin managed to get quite a lot of money from the top of the poster by sitting on my shoulders. This has been a great day.
Said one local scallywag.
Developers were equally pleased.
The idea behind this was that if people want to get their hands on some real money they should invest in the Elephant. The money went quite quickly but I am pleased about how it all went.
Perhaps they should recruit the swift-handed locals when it comes to tearing down the current Elephant site. That dump can’t vanish quickly enough. In the meantime, interested readers can view the proposed redevelopment plans here, complete with an ‘artist’s impression’ that looks like it was painted by a three-year old blowing through a drinking straw.
