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SCMP Reporter

Q What can be done to entice people back to the cinemas?

Having lived in Hong Kong over the past decade, I have noticed that hardly any movie trailers are shown prior to the start of the movie.

Instead, beer and skin product advertisements have taken over the screens.

Advertisements for a movie put up a week before the movie's opening at bus stops are not going to lure the public into watching the film.

The public has become more cautious, so they will not  judge a film simply by its billboard advertisement.

I strongly urge cinemas to show more trailers instead of product advertisements.

And film advertisers should spend  more money promoting  movies through  television commercials.

If fashion and product commercials work so well with  television screenings, movies should too.

Cinemas also need to expand their size.

Recently, the Pacific Place cinema reopened and all the theatres are now approximately the same size, whereas before the renovation, films in high demand could be screened in the bigger theatres that had more seats.

With Palace IFC being  one of the most popular cinemas in town as well, one can expect full houses on any given weekend.

This is a turn-off for people because they know they have to book seats in advance, and many are not willing to pay the extra fee for the service.

Also note that a lot of moviegoers are young people who do not possess credit cards. They therefore do not have the luxury of being able to book the films ahead of time.

More films also need to be shown in the city.

Often, we have to wait for months, even half a year, when the film is already released on DVD, before we can see it in the cinema.

This leaves movie fans little choice but to buy pirated versions or to seek out other illegal means of obtaining the movie.

As an avid movie fan, I myself am willing to pay for the price of a movie ticket, given that I don't have to wait for months before the film finally arrives in Hong Kong from the Unites States or elsewhere abroad.

Grace Lien, Pok Fu Lam

Q Should Hong Kong follow Spanish rules and have plumper mannequins?

Women in Hong Kong are indeed slimmer than those in Spain, but here they are also shorter.

The girth of the mannequins does perhaps represent local women, but certainly not their height.

If Mango wants to keep these stick-thin mannequins, fine, but they should also be shortened to reflect the true proportion of local women's bodies.

Christine Klitsie, Causeway Bay

Q How can animal welfare be improved?

For several weeks Talkback has been asking for suggestions on how animal welfare in Hong Kong could be improved.

A good start would be to not promote the use of fur in fashion, as was done on page 10  of the Life section in Friday's paper.

Montgomery Pawson, Pok Fu Lam

Q How can we reduce the risk of roadside pollution?

Roadside pollution can be a big problem because no one takes responsibility for it.

One way to cure the problem of roadside pollution would be to introduce an additional tax on everyone who owns a car, on top of the existing first-registration tax. This new tax would create an incentive for drivers to be cautious of the fact that they are adding to the city's air pollution by burning fuel.

It would also help to make taxi drivers to be on the alert for  passengers throwing rubbish out of the window of their car.

Another way would be to start the programme used in the United States called 'Adopt a Highway'. This allows companies to advertise with their names on the 'Adopt a Highway' sign as well as to raise money for the litter to be removed.

And to prevent people tossing bottles out, Hong Kong could put a tax on bottles. This tax would fall on the consumer but would create an incentive for them to return the bottle to the store after it is empty. When the bottle is returned, the money paid for the tax is given back to the consumer.

That way, if they throw the bottle out or onto the side of the road, they lose that money. Not only would this help pollution but if we used recyclable bottles we could save a lot of aluminium. It also creates an incentive for people to recycle.

Overall, pollution on the side of the road should be stopped. Using one or all of these different methods would give people a reason to stop polluting. When the litter starts to disappear, people will notice and perhaps make the decision not to litter anymore.

Annaliese Johnsen, Tai Tam

On other matters...

We refer to the letter from Paul Harris  (Talkback, January 31) regarding the volume of RoadShow's Multi-media On-board service on KMB buses.

MMOB has been installed on most of KMB's air-conditioned buses as a value-added service, providing a variety of informative, educational and entertainment  programmes. Many charitable and voluntary organisations have taken the opportunity to communicate their messages to the community through the service. To meet passengers' preferences, only the monitor located on the right-hand-side of the lower deck broadcasts MMOB programmes. The remaining part of the lower deck is set aside as a quiet zone.

Regarding the volume of the service, we have taken a number of measures over the years to ensure that programme volume is accommodated within the existing sound level inside the bus compartment.

An audio limiter is also used to ensure that the sound output of all materials for broadcast is confined within an acceptable range.

If passengers have any concerns about the volume on a particular KMB bus, they may record the licence number of the bus and call our Customer Service Hotline on 27454466. Follow-up checks will be carried out and any necessary adjustments made to the sound system.

Susanne Ho, KMB



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