I can’t decide if this is creepy or not. I’d be miffed if one of thee fake businesses fooled me into stopping.
The details in the poster graphics are pretty clever. Cafe Cellini would fool anyone driving by.
I guess this is how a tv show dresses up a live location for filming? Especially for quick background shots.
I noticed one of the shops is selling cheese.
I suddenly came over all peckish.
I do think a bit of the fermented curd would do the trick.
I’ve seen this done in a few towns local to me here in the south of England - and it seems like a good idea to me (regardless whether the motive in the linked story was just about the G8).
If you’re one of the few remaining business trading in a row of empty shop units, it’s better that the place looks alive and cheery.
If you’re a business looking for a new location, a location nestled amongst a collection of colourful, wholesome posters is better than one in a row of empty, dark shops with the broken remains of fixtures scattered inside.
Nobody walking past shops which have been given this treatment is deceived for a moment that they are actual shops - they’re just pretty pictures that are nicer to look at than empty shops.
Looks to me like the G8 leaders are withdrawing further from reality.
So for the G8, we now need to build Potemkin Villages?
You know if China and India or any other “evil”'country had done this, we would have had a hundred posters decrying it. Instead there is quiet amusement, “oh look at them, cheeky little buggers”.
If the N Irish or the UK government is so worried about not looking at their best, a couple of million pounds could probably make the place look better, actually help the locals and generally not be a WTF moment. I am sure one or two million could be found for a budget.
The cat’s got it.
It is probably the cleanest cheese shop in the district …
More “what better can you expect from these idiots?” in my case at least.
And India is an “evil country”?
Spammers. 
The G8 would happily meet on the Moon, except that it would cost too much to send booze and underage hookers up there.
That said, I’d love to be a fly on the wall during conversations between Russia and the US/UK, given the recent intelligence leaks.
My prediction is that the posters stay up long after the G8 is over and end up faded and worse looking than the empty shops they’re trying to hide. Way to go, Ireland I live in Baltimore and am no stranger to vacant buildings. the city wasting tax money on something like this would really tick me off.
It’s been done in the US. In the early 1980s decals were placed in the windows of derelict buildings in the South Bronx to make them look like they were inhabited. I remember seeing them myself.
Well, its certainly uncontaminated by cheese.
It’s a pathetic disgrace. I’m not even sure what the point is of pretending the businesses are open. Who is it meant to fool and why the fuck would the delegates give a shit one way or another what’s going on beyond their ivory towers? The idea of a cocktail bar or fancy deli in Co. Fermanagh is also a hoot.
Its not the delegates. Its for the crowds of followers who descend upon a town during a summit, newscrew and support staff, press and aides.
I repeat. Could they not have reduced one course at the summit dinners, or sent home a couple of high priced call girls and used the few million saved to pretty up the area in a more lasting way?
So the press have something to talk about? It’s not as if it would fool anyone other than maybe someone flying over the town.
I can’t find a link to the article (and if I did it would probably be behind a pay wall) but there was a better take on things in the Sunday Times by Newton Emerson a while back.
The shop front façades have been on the go here for a while now, they’ve just reached new levels of, um, sophistication :o There are further plans to buy or demolish such buildings being made up apparently, the G8 just came along at the right moment to make it all look a bit iffy.
On the other hand, contrast the treatment of potential G8 protests with the actual protests we’ve had here. The actual protests were for the most part hands off affairs, protestors could block roads, intimidate businesses and politicians to their heart’s content. The police simply read out the law over a loudhailer and said they would make arrests later. Their attitude to the G8 protesters (all 8 who turned up in the event) - don’t even think about it. And so reinforcements were called for from NE England (passed some Land Rovers manned by officers from Manchester or thereabouts only half an hour ago) and policing went into over drive.
But then that doesn’t make for as good a headline as the suggestion that the G8 was turning into something from The Prisoner or the like.
There’s no money in flegs.
All that matters to me is whether it works in its intended goal of perking up the neighbourhood or not.
I don’t think it’s really any more dishonest than the idea of “pop up neighbourhoods” where unused storefronts are used for little short-term projects instead.