Last year, the president of Rome put Colosseum ad space up for sale for $33million. The money will go to total refurbishment of the structure and in return the buyer will be able to have it’s logo on tickets sold to the monument, a poster 8ft in height at the base of the building, and exclusive film rights of the restoration process.
Now, I am all for fixing international structures, but I don’t see how this could be a win for the buyer in the current economic status Italy is in. Sure there are a few perks, but could the company’s message really be conveyed in an 8ft poster and on the backs of tickets? I feel like they would have to come up with a whole ad campaign telling the world they are funding the restoration of the Colosseum.
Also, does Italy have any criteria for what kind of buyer can purchase the ad space? I don’t think the country would be for a pornography empire to be plastered on the backs of tickets. I feel like the country would do almost anything to relieve their debt crisis.
Currently the monument has been for sale since August 2010 and currently there has not been a buyer. This could be my gut feeling but the economic crisis that almost all countries are in, I am sure the Colosseum’s ad space will not be purchased any time soon. So I ask my readers, do you believe this is an effective way to gain funds to restore a building or can you come up with something better?