Madam, - I have to echo Kathleen Taaffe's condemnation (March 15th) of the visual pollution pervading our towns and cities.
However, it is not a few signatures which concern me, and it is definitely not the artistic and political forms of graffiti to be found, which belie constant claims of apathy among the young.
Rather, the offensive markings which clutter my horizons are the inescapable, large-scale advertisements cropping up everywhere. Developed by psychologists delving into the depths of our inadequacies and desires and funded by big businesses with marketing budgets that would put government overspending to shame, they carry dangerous and insidious messages of "spend to be young, spend to be beautiful, spend to be alive". These constant attacks on self-esteem, encouraging rampant consumerism, high levels of debt and a host of insatiable desires, are a much greater scourge than any scribbles.
I too, like Ms Taaffe, would expect zero tolerance in the efforts to curb the problem - though I suspect it may be some time before we take seriously the need for the culprits of big businesses to "clean up their mess". - Yours, etc,
AOIFE COOKE, Marley Avenue, Rathfarnham, Dublin 16.