Mystery billboard ads tell people to imagine ‘London without gays’

Illustrated rainbow pride flag on a white background.

A Pride festival appears to be behind a mystery ad campaign that is being pushed online and on London billboards.

The campaign was noticed today when several keen-eyed commuters noticed a series of electronic billboards bearing the message in the UK capital.


The billboards, spotted around the Waterloo area, features an image of Big Ben with the text ‘Imagine London Without Gays’ in black-and-white.

At the same time, an online ad campaign has been launched – with Facebook showing a promoted page titled ‘World Without Gays’ to thousands of people – appearing to target LGBT users.

The linked website flicks through pictures of several major cities, saying: “Imagine Berlin Without Gays. Imagine Madrid without Gays. Imagine London Without Gays. Imagine a World Without Gays. Coming Soon.”
Mystery billboard ads tell people to imagine ‘London without gays’
The project’s web domain was only registered last month.

It is unclear what purpose the ads are meant to serve – but billboard owners JCDecaux insists it’s nothing homophobic.

When pushed further, they said it was “part of a campaign for the Tel Aviv Pride Parade 2016” – which ruins the surprise somewhat.