• by Richard Whitman , Columnist, April 27, 2017

Well here's a good one. Over in Bengaluru India, an ad agency keen on ensuring its billboards had unobstructed views used poison to kill trees which were blocking its ads. The ad agency, Nile Enterprise, had erected billboards for an iPhone 7 ad campaigns.

In all, 17 trees has poison dumped into the soil surrounding their roots. An environmentalist, Vijay Nishanth, noticed the dying trees and confirmed the trees had been poisoned. Apparently, the boards were erected illegally and have since been removed. A government official said:“We have removed two hoardings [billboards] -- a jewelry advertisement in Marathahalli and telecom company ad in Mahadevapura. We will take strict action against the companies. They have not only chopped off the branches but also poisoned the trees. This is an act of cruelty.”

It seems the work of a team of environmentalists has brought back to life 3 of the 17 affected trees. The other 14 were not able to be saved. Of the effort, Nishanth said, “Through continuous efforts were made to bring the 17 trees back to life, 14 did not respond. Three responded to the medications we gave them. We removed the layers of the tree where acid had been poured and we gave nutrition to the roots. We also did root formulation and watered the plant every day. We checked for the signs every 2-3 days. We even changed the soil by putting more red soil for the best results.”

Anything for increased viewership, right?