Billboards have appeared across London suggesting people escape to Dubai to avoid phone theft.
Large posters have appeared in Hackney and Southwark, two of the worst hotspots for phone thefts in the capital, while “guerrilla” posters have been put up in Soho, promoting a “self-defence” retreat in the Persian Gulf.
The billboards poke fun at the phone theft epidemic sweeping across London, where a phone is reported stolen every six minutes.
Mobile phone thefts in London rose to a record number of over 116,000 last year, figures from the Metropolitan Police show.
UAE-based GymNation has unveiled an extensive advertising campaign this week, offering Londoners the chance to “escape” the theft.
The company’s Chief Marketing Officer Rory McEntee explained the idea is to offer free spaces on the self-defence retreat “to restore Londoners' confidence on the streets”.
Mr McEntee said: “This campaign is incredibly timely, with the Met Police just announcing a new dedicated Chief to find new tactics to tackle phone thefts in London - and the theft figures are staggering.”
He added: “We’re not telling people to fight crime with fists – we’re telling them to stop surrendering to fear.
“Londoners are proud, resilient people. They deserve to feel confident and safe walking down the street and commuting to and from their place of work so we created the dedicated Self-Defence retreat to help restore that confidence - and who wouldn’t want to come to Dubai?
“It’s the safest place in the world, and the weather isn’t bad either - since we ran the promotion, we’ve had hundreds of requests for Brits to attend the class”.
But social media users have been quick to point out that the billboards themselves could create a phone theft hotspot, “as everyone scans the QR code”.
The billboards come complete with a “scan quick before your phone gets nicked” QR code for the public to scan and secure a free place on the Self-Defence retreat.
The advert comes as thousands of Londoners flock to Dubai, with roughly 240,000 British expats now living in the Middle Eastern City.
