ASSESSMENT OF THE ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT OF ADVERTISEMENT POSTER AND BILLBOARD IN CALABAR METROPOLIS

ABSTRACT The study accessed the environmental Impact of advertisement posters and billboards in calabar Metropolis aimed at finding solutions to the environmental implication of poor sitting of advertisement poster and billboards in calabar Metropolis. Posters and outdoor advertisement billboard provide avenues for marketing of goods and services globally. In spite of the fact that the contribute towards providing information about the availability of goods and services, adequate attention has not been paid by the concerned bodies authorities in the sitting of the posters and billboard in order to mitigate the negative implications on the environment. It is against this backdrop that this paper assessed the environmental impact of advertisement posters and billboards in calabar metropolis. The major instrument of data collection was the questionnaire which was used to collect information from 400 respondents. The systematic random sampling was used, out of 22 political wards in Calabar Municipality and Calabar South, 11 wards was used for this study which include ward 1, ward 3, ward 4, ward 8, and ward 9 in Calabar Municipality. Hence, in Calabar South ward 1, ward 3 ward 5, ward 7, ward 9 and ward 11 will be used for the study. In administering questionnaires the researcher administered one questionnaire in every five house in the selected political ward between Calabar Municipality and Calabar South. The analysis was carried out using Multiple Regression Analysis in testing the impact of advertisement poster and billboards on the quality of the environment in Calabar metropolis. This result that the significant value is 0.177 which is greater than 0.05. The implication of the result is that the null hypothesis was upheld while the alternative hypothesis was rejected. This implies that advertisement posters and billboards have a negative impact on the quality of the environment in Calabar metropolis. It was observed that the display of poster and billboards in the urban environment has implications on the environment resulting in visual distortion, information overload, destruction of a sense of place, negative effect on traffic flow and safety and devaluation of property value and urban decay among others. The study recommends among others that the Cross River State Government in collaboration with the Town Planning Authority, Calabar should be effective on the regulations towards posters and billboard advertising in Calabar Metropolis.