Croydon Borough of Culture advertising ‘confusing’

Signage created to promote Croydon’s year as London Borough of Culture has been criticised for confusing rail passengers.

Marketing posters depicting the phrase ‘This is Croydon’ in the style of Transport for London roundels have been placed on other platform stations, including Norwood Junction, leading to concern passengers will mistake the advertisements for the name of the station.

According to reports from Inside Croydon, the Borough of Culture signage has, in some cases, been pasted over existing station roundels.

PR agency White Label, which landed a £132,000 contract to market and promote Croydon’s 12-month cultural programme, created the roundel design.

Comments on a Rail UK online forum discussing the advertisement branded the marketing campaign “staggeringly poor” and “shockingly bad”.

“[Transport for London] (TfL) usually has such clear signage and has very strict guidelines to keep signage effective, clear and consistent,” another comment said.

“Hence I’m rather staggered TfL would even contemplate doing this where it replaces its own basic and crucial signage for passengers.”