Ghost Signs: My Experience in Uganda

New ghost signs may be an oddity in the U.S. and some other countries, but I’ve seen them, brand new, in Uganda. I don’t know that these newly painted signs for Pepsi and cell phone companies can accurately be called ghost signs. Their paint is bright and the advertisements modern. Then again, they will fade eventually and become ghosts of enterprises past.

What confused me about these signs is that they had nothing to do with the building they were on. An electronics store might have no sign of its own (or at least none that I could see), yet have the most prominent wall painted with a soda advertisement. A clothing store might advertise a mobile money app on its wall. You had to know what was in a store before you knew which store to go to - the signs told you nothing. I saw this in cities and villages, although in Kampala, there was more plastic signage like I see in the U.S.

The free internet doesn’t tell me the history of ghost signs in the U.S. It seems pointless to search for their history in Uganda. For now, I’ll leave the differences as interesting cultural points for travel conversations.

*The photo was taken in the US. I wasn't able to get a photo of a Ugandan sign.