Embarrassing designs finally eradicated at world landmark

Back in August, a big online campaign was in full swing by some residents in Mid-Levels to rid the world's longest escalator of what they saw as the tacky art pasted on the glass along the structure. They demanded the dated pictures of hamburgers, watches, vintage dresses, reclining chairs and foreign currency along one of the city's main tourist attractions be removed or at least replaced with something stylish.

Several designers weighed in with alternatives that would improve the visual pleasure of the thousands who use the route each day.

For a change, it seems people power has won the day, with the dated images having been quietly removed last month. A government spokeswoman said they were removed because some of them were damaged. 'It's great news, because those images were just embarrassing,' designer Jay Foss Cole, of the ChinaStylus creative studio, said yesterday. 'This is a city which has some of the best designers in the region, one of the most prominent, centrally located landmarks blighted with those pictures was just ... embarrassing.'