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WHAT IS THAT OSTRICH DOING ON A CRIME PREVENTION POSTER? 17

Over the course of some 36 years, the NCPC tried several slogans to entrench
the idea that the public can stop crime, especially if they work together
and in concert with the police. None of these taglines, however, caught the
public imagination as vividly as “Low Crime Doesn’t Mean No Crime”.
Ten years after it fi rst introduced “Low Crime Doesn’t Mean No Crime”,
the NCPC decided to bring back the catchy slogan. “Be vigilant,” its 2006
posters admonished against a backdrop of inexplicable ink blobs.
Tan Kian Hoon, who became Chairman of the NCPC in 2002, liked
the tagline but was afraid the campaign was starting to lose impact. A public
service announcement warning of crime in a country with an enviable
record of public safety needed to grab attention to be effective. Tan ordered
a fresh approach to the NCPC’s annual campaign in 2008. He wanted “eye-
catching visuals”, he told the creative team planning that year’s festive season
crime prevention campaign.
The team came up with the idea of an ostrich with its head in the ground
while feathers fl ew around a red billboard proclaiming, “Low Crime Doesn’t
Mean No Crime”. And in case anyone missed the point, the team added a
refrain: “Don’t hide from the fact … be alert.”
Tan signed off on the concept: “I though it was apt because Singaporeans
are all so preoccupied with so many things that we often fail to see the
dangers that surround us. The ostrich reminds us that we can sometimes be
complacent or oblivious and let our guard down in a safe environment.” 1
The ostrich as metaphor for obliviousness has been in use since the great
Roman thinker Pliny the Elder (23–79 AD) wrote of the largest living birds
on earth that “although the rest of their body is so large, they imagine, when
they have thrust their head and neck into a bush, that the whole of their
body is concealed” (Pliny, 1855). The expression, “buries his head in the

<< A good poster is an AGGRESSIVE

IMAGE that must bite the eyes of the
>>
viewer and open his THINKING.

Philippe Apeloig
Studio Apeloig, France

12/7/17 9:57 am
NCPC35-5 July2017.indd 17
NCPC35-5 July2017.indd 17 12/7/17 9:57 am