Arnotts Famous Biscuits

A faded ARNOTT'S FAMOUS BISCUITS sign occupies the side wall of a building on Parramatta Road. The lettering is hand-painted, in red and white on cream, the cream now grey with weather and exhaust. The original advertisement promoted Arnott's biscuits with a small illustration of the company's parrot trademark in the lower corner. The bricks underneath the paint are visible where the wash has flaked off in patches. A power line crosses the wall on the right side of the frame, casting a thin shadow across the lettering.

Painted advertisements like this one were standard on commercial side walls in twentieth-century Sydney, and Arnott's was one of the most prolific advertisers along the Parramatta Road corridor. The company was founded in Newcastle in 1865 and grew into one of Australia's biggest food brands. Wall ads paid for the building owner's exterior maintenance and put the brand in front of every passing driver. By the 1980s and 1990s, painted advertising had been displaced by billboards and printed signage, and most of the older wall ads were either painted over or left to fade. This one was left to fade, which is why it is still readable. The slow erasure makes a stronger image now than it did when it was fresh.