SINGAPORE : Just three days after last Friday’s launch of an unusual ad campaign for new beverages “Anything” and “Whatever”, the advertisers have pulled the displays — featuring empty cans — from 450 bus stops islandwide.

The reason? Some elderly people who sell empty cans for extra income have been harvesting the displays. Other curious members of the public lifted the flaps of the cans to confirm if they were empty, leading to concerns voiced by several MediaCorp hotline callers about rainwater collecting and becoming breeding grounds for mosquitoes.

Although the campaign was supposed to have run for a month, marketing consultants Out of the Box decided on Monday to dismantle the displays, after nine in 10 were damaged; the losses totalled $50,000.

Nevertheless, managing director Johnson Tan said it had achieved its “objectives of creating mass awareness and attention”. - TODAY