AWC Pictures

Did your mother ever chastise you with the words ‘money doesn’t grow on trees’ in a possibly fruitless attempt to curb your profligate ways? Well, maybe – just maybe – she was wrong. There are places in England where money apparently does just that.

Perhaps it is to simply good luck or perhaps people believe that by leaving a coin in the bark of the tree they may have it returned to them many times over. Whatever the origins of this strange habit, there are a number of trees in the United Kingdom that bear the financial hopes of many. Perhaps they found it difficult to reconcile their gross habits with their net income.

The people of Yorkshire, in the north of England are renowned for being careful with their money. While this localized stereotype may not always be fair there is evidence that on occasion they are willing to throw caution to the wind and hammer their low denomination coinage in to trees. The good folk of Ingleton in North Yorkshire have some of the most stunning woodlands in the country and the local waterfalls trail has something other to offer than the sight of the wet stuff cascading in a picturesque way.

Close up it seems as if the coins have almost merged with the wood, but that is the effect of the weather upon the metal. Some suggest that the reason money is pushed in to the bark is more than just a desire to increase one’s wealth. It is thought that the amount of coins pushed in by an individual may result in them producing the same amount of children when their natural fecundity discovers a partner. The tree itself, though long since alive, has come to bear a marked resemblance to the torso of some sort of lizard, the coins becoming its scales. It is almost Arthurian in its strangeness.

You do not even have to leave the county to see another tree which is pitted with hundreds of coins. Bolton Abbey, famous for the wonderful ruins of a twelfth century priory also has its own money tree. The fact that two trees of the same kind are found in the same county may well say something about its inhabitants. If perhaps you are of the opinion that money can do anything, you might after all be accused of doing anything for money. Perhaps those visiting these trees would have been better off simply putting a little money away in a savings account each month. In a year they would be surprised at how little they have.

It is said that if all the rich people in the world divided their money up between themselves then there almost certainly would not be enough to go around. Perhaps wishing for money is one thing, but getting it is another. As they say, when the gods wish to punish us, then they give us what we want. Cicero, way back before the Christian era said that endless money created the sinews of war – and nothing is truer than that two thousand years later.

If you are ever taken on a jaunt to Cumbria then you should not forget to visit Ambleside over the Kirkstone Pass. Aira Force, again the site of a beautiful waterfall – one of the best known waterfalls in the Lake District in fact – is home to yet another money tree. If Poirot was around today he would perhaps be profiling those people who use trees for this sort of decoration. Firstly, the north of England, secondly they generally seem to be close to waterfalls. Throw in a good murder mystery and you might well have the basis of a Christie-esque novel.

Dovedale in Derbyshire is the home of the one above – so the plot thickens. Owned by the National Trust in the UK, it annually attracts over a million visitors to its beautiful scenery. And strangely enough, a river runs through it. The plot thickens. If you happen to go there in hunt of the money tree, don’t forget that you can also see the famous caves known as the Dove Holes, which sound something like a SM heavy metal band, but there you go.

Teesdale is a somewhat colder place than the rest of those which have money trees. It is in a valley on the east side of the Pennine mountains in England. It is an official AONB in the UK – an Area Of Outstanding Beauty. The River Tees rises below the highest river, Cross Fell and although within England the local climate is classified as sub-arctic. Snow has been known to fall there in June. Whatever the reasons people have stuck coins in these trees, one can only hope that the wish they made when they did it come true. One can only hope it was not for wealth as that has been seen to fail to make people happy as readily as poverty.

Creative uses of bus, subway and door handles in advertising campaigns by various companies.

Pantene Door Handle

Creative poster with a real plait hanging from the back of a head was stuck on the doors of malls, supermarkets and beauty salons in India. The plait served as the door handle and each time patrons ‘pulled’ the hair handle, the core benefit of Pantene was demonstrated.

Harley Davidson Bus Handle

Motorbike handles were mounted in buses in Switzerland to announce the arrival of new Harley models.

Gard Shampoo Bus Handles

Clever bus handles promoting Gard active strong shampoo in Frankfurt, Germany.

Amnesty International Bus Handles

Eight bus lines in Hamburg, Germany run this creative advertising campaign against the death penalty.

Pepsi Bus Handle

Cool handle advertising campaign for Pepsi was featured on 3400 buses throughout USA.

Hankook Tires Bus Handle

Tire-shaped handles emphasize stability and grip of Hankook Tires.

Neck Tie Subway Handles

Tie subway train handles advertising loan company in Tokyo, Japan.

Fitness Company Subway Handle

Clever marketing campaign for the Fitness Company in Germany.

Abused Bus Handles

Creative advertising campaign against domestic abuse in Indonesia.

Big Pilot Watch Bus Handles

Bus riders in Berlin got to try IWC’s Big Pilot’s watch mid-commute because bus straps have been fashioned into samplers.

Tyskie Beer Door Handles

Beer mug stickers were installed behind doors of restaurants, pubs and shops as a part of creative Tyskie beer advertising campaign.

You’re crammed into a tiny space with several other people, spending an average of thirty seconds staring at either the floor or the wall. That’s what makes elevator advertisements and art so brilliant – people have little choice but to look. Marketers and artists have taken advantage of this very captive audience in some brilliant ways, from creating optical illusions with stickers to transforming the space into an apartment or even a disco club.

1. Swiss Skydive “Elevator”

Anyone who’s afraid of heights might think twice about riding in this elevator, which seems to reveal a shocking view of a city far below the riders’ feet. But this is no glass elevator located at a dizzying distance above the ground – it’s just a large sticker affixed to the floor. The ad was created for a Swiss skydiving school, giving people a taste of what you experience when leaping from an airplane.

2. Cleverly Painted Elevator Floor Illusion

Would you even step foot into this elevator if it appeared to have no floor, especially considering that a sign at the entrance cautions users that the elevator is still under construction? If you were brave enough to walk inside you’d find that it’s actually a cleverly designed paint job that gives the illusion of a bottomless elevator shaft underfoot.

3. Elevator Ad Shows Man’s Insides

Another form of elevator advertising uses an image displayed on the outer doors that reveals something new when the doors are opened, as in this example where a man’s chest is opened to reveal his insides. This ad was made for the Body Worlds 2 Exhibit, a traveling exhibition of preserved human bodies and body parts.

4. Wake Up! by Maxwell House

Design firm Ogilvy Beijing of China created this ad for Maxwell House as a ’shot of adrenaline’ – when the doors opened, sleepy people in an office building were shocked awake, providing an effect that the designers figured mimics the effects of drinking a cup of coffee. The ad reportedly caused a commotion on the morning of its launch as surprised office workers crowded the lobby. It drew a crowd from people in neighboring buildings for the next week.

5. Gold’s Gym Bodybuilder Elevator Ad

If gyms are successful at goading people into getting fit, eventually they’ll be strong enough to pry open elevator doors with nothing but the amazingly powerful muscles in their arms. At least, that’s what this ad by Gold’s Gym seems to promise with its leathery, barrel-thighed bodybuilder.

6. Elevator as Aquarium

Jelly Tots Sweets made elevator rides a lot more fun for kids and adults alike with this ‘experiential elevator’ ad, which transformed the entire elevator into an aquarium – including the outside doors.

Simone Decker, a talented artist that lives and works in Frankfurt, has created a series of unique sculptures that look like giant chewing gum wads.

The sticky sculptures have been stretched, chewed and blown up into a wide range of oversized wads and bubbles that landed around the Italian city.

A rainbow of colorful chewing gum from Simone Decker’s “Chewing in Venice” project can seen after the jump.