Touchmedia's Eco-Art Call for Garbage Treasures Reaches Over 100 Million

SHANGHAI, Aug. 17, 2011 / PRNewswire-Asia/ -- When passengers were asked to 'Play with Garbage' for the sake of the environment this May, it was with the intent for people to discover the principles of "reduce, reuse and recycle" through Eco-Art's contest to make garbage into art. Eco-Art China, in its 3rd year, organized by Touchmedia and supported by the Shanghai Environmental Protection Bureau (SEPB), has reached 101,437,601 passengers in a mere 12 weeks. Neil Ducray, Touchmedia's Managing Director, and Deputy Party Secretary, Jiang Nan from SEPB were present to announce the 1st prize work named "Eco-Violin" made of waste paper, plastic pipes and cans made by Monica Liaw from New Zealand. Her piece received the highest votes out of the 198,356 public votes cast in two weeks via Touchmedia's interactive screens in Shanghai, Beijing, Guangzhou and Shenzhen. Monica said, "I think it's a great thing to join Eco-Art because it really let's you explore your imagination using unwanted materials, both the benefit for developing your mind as well as helping the environment. I strongly recommend that everyone should join. It helps raise awareness for the environment."

(Photo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20110817/CN52979-a )

(Photo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20110817/CN52979-b )

(Video: http://www.prnasia.com/sa/2011/08/20110817113125.flv )

Fung Yee Ngai from Hong Kong and Weslee Tsuei from Taiwan both collected 2nd prize honors for their which used plastic bottles and waste paper. "Castle in the sky", the other 2nd prize work, made of an old wood frame, rope, pulp filler and pigment, was turned from lifeless garbage into lively art by Wangjun from Shanghai.

Another Shanghai participant Yang Yan claimed the 3rd prize spot with "Boys Love Art" pieced together from buttons, crayons, bottle caps, CDs, sticks, straw, grain, wipe, rice and foam. The two other 3rd prize winners were Huangsiwei from Guangzhou and Duyi from Shanghai.

Top winners of the Eco-Art China contest combined with works of professional artists from 9 Chinese cities plus 13 countries are being exhibited in the first international Eco-Art Tour at Plaza 889 in Shanghai. The exhibit features over 100 garbage-into-art pieces for two weeks from Aug. 16 until Aug 31, 2011.

Garbage Sorting Game Captures Passenger Interest

From May 15 to August 1, 2011, passengers clicked on the in-taxi Eco-Art interactive ad a total of 11,592,592 times in Shanghai, Beijing, Guangzhou and Shenzhen to learn about the program, request entry forms for the contest, view the top ranked artworks and vote for the winner. They were also able to explore industry eco-initiatives and download eco-wallpaper for their phones or computers by simply touching the screens.

To reinforce the government's current push for citizens to sort garbage prior to discarding it, Touchmedia chose "Garbage Sorting" as the key educational aspect of the 2011 in-taxi campaign. The 'garbage sorting' game inside the Eco-art ad was clicked on 3,646,375 times. The objective of the game was for passengers to sort various garbage rolling out of a conveyor belt into either the recyclable, non-recyclable, or compostable bins.

Eco-Art China campaign has reached over 210,000,000 passengers since it was created in 2009 by Touchmedia. Over 335,000 votes in total have been cast to determine the 2009, 2010 and 2011 winners. Contest participants have ranged from 7 to 81 years from numerous Chinese mainland cities, plus Hong Kong and Taiwan, as well as Australia, Canada, Denmark, England, Finland, France, Germany, India, Japan, New Zealand, South Korea, Spain, and United States.  

Dramatic Increase in Environmental Awareness of Passengers

A recent eco survey conducted also on Touchmedia's in-taxi touchscreens was completed 137,863 times.

When asked, "What are you willing to do for environmental protection?" nearly 1 in 2 （48.6%） expressed that they are willing to "reduce the carbon emissions by reducing the frequency of driving and by walking, riding bicycles and taking public transportation".

Ranking 2nd is "Using reusable bags to decrease plastic waste" (37.9%), followed by "Conserving and recycling household water" (35.6%). Ranking the next 2 options are "Buying environment-friendly products" (34.6%) and "Exchanging, and recycling waste, sorting my garbage" (32.8%), with the other opinions of "Minimizing use of paper by using recycled paper, printing both sides" (29.3%)," "Planting a tree or donating to environmental protection organization" (27.2%) and "Taking part in environmental protection activities"(26.7%) etc.

Speaking of planting trees, 1 out of 5 passengers (22.5%) have planted and been taking care of their adopted trees. In answering to "What do you think are the biggest barriers to achieving an environment-friendly life with low carbon emissions?" Topping the list is "Too much focus on a convenient life style at the expense of unsustainable habits" by 46.1%. Following that is "A consumerism culture is driving demand for more products, especially luxury products" (38.8%). Ranking 3rd is "Little knowledge or guidance about environmentally-friendly life styles" (38.3%).

When it came to, "What influence do you think Low Carbon Living and consumption will have on society?" 48.2% say, "People will be able to enjoy a more natural and healthy life" while 42.2% acclaim, "All the resources on the earth will be used in a more sustainable way". Ranking 3rd and 4th are "People will co-exist with nature and animals" (35.1%) and "There will be sustained development and a shift in people's attitudes" (27.6%).

About Touchmedia

Touchmedia was founded in 2003, by its Chairman Micky Fung, to develop state-of-the-art touchscreen media technology in China. It is the largest in-taxi interactive media company, delivering innovative digital media solutions for clients and the out-of-home advertising industry in China, at a time when reaching affluent consumers on traditional media is increasingly challenging.

For more about Touchmedia: www.touchmedia.cn

SOURCE Touchmedia

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