A wallchart is a type of large
poster
A poster is a large sheet that is placed either on a public space to promote something or on a wall as decoration. Typically, posters include both typography, textual and graphic elements, although a poster may be either wholly graphical or w ...
often displaying information for
education
Education is a purposeful activity directed at achieving certain aims, such as transmitting knowledge or fostering skills and character traits. These aims may include the development of understanding, rationality, kindness, and honesty. Va ...
al use or
entertainment
Entertainment is a form of activity that holds the attention and interest of an audience or gives pleasure and delight. It can be an idea or a task, but is more likely to be one of the activities or events that have developed over thousa ...
. One popular use of a wallchart is to track progress of sports teams in cup events.
During 2006 the practice of giving away wallcharts in
British newspapers rose in popularity. Many papers including ''
The Guardian
''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...
'', ''
The Daily Mail
The ''Daily Mail'' is a British daily middle-market tabloid newspaper and news websitePeter Wilb"Paul Dacre of the Daily Mail: The man who hates liberal Britain", ''New Statesman'', 19 December 2013 (online version: 2 January 2014) publish ...
'' and ''
The Independent
''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publis ...
'' participated, with subjects varying from the "Sky At Night" to "British birds". Marc Sands, marketing director of ''The Guardian'' describes wallcharts as one of their most successful promotions excluding free
DVD
The DVD (common abbreviation for Digital Video Disc or Digital Versatile Disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any kin ...
s in the ''Guardian'' editor's blog.
The December 16 edition of ''The Guardian'' distributed a free 'Guide to Guardian Readers' wallchart illustrated by
Posy Simmonds
Rosemary Elizabeth "Posy" Simmonds MBE, FRSL (born 9 August 1945) is a British newspaper cartoonist, and writer and illustrator of both children's books and graphic novels. She is best known for her long association with ''The Guardian'', for wh ...
.
The subjects of later wallcharts included Pork and Apples, and ''
Private Eye
''Private Eye'' is a British fortnightly satire, satirical and current affairs (news format), current affairs news magazine, founded in 1961. It is published in London and has been edited by Ian Hislop since 1986. The publication is widely r ...
'', perhaps doubting the usefulness of these items, satirised the growing trend with spoof advertisements for wallcharts on "Britain's Best-Loved Wasps" and "Britain's Favourite Wallcharts" as well as a cartoon depicting "Hadrian's Wallchart" (subject: Barbarians). Issue 1168 featured the tag line "Inside: No Free Wallchart!"
References
External links
Paper Monitor, BBCWall Charts
{{Authority control
Posters