Back Bus Billboard Illusion

Imagine driving for a work one day, moving your eyes away from the driving wheel for a second just to change the radio station, and suddenly this bus appears in front of you. Would it confuse you? Perhaps you would even be frightened for a minute, until you noticed that what you are seeing is just an illusionary billboard sticker. Certain insurance company thought of a smart way to rise attention about its service. As I mentioned previously, best way to burn your message into the masses brain, is by shocking them. This photo was submitted by Jenn, who wrote us the following words:

I love you site! Visit it daily ever since it was featured on Yahoo. Haven’t come across any problems yet. :-) I’ve been sharing your site with a few other friends, and one of them sent me this advertisement link. Thought I’d share it with you. Keep up the good work!

Back Bus Ad Optical Illusion

61 Replies to “Back Bus Billboard Illusion”

  1. ‘Even Apeldoorn bellen’ means ‘Just call Apeldoorn’. Apeldoorn is the town in which the insurance company resides…
    I think about 99% of Holland knows the commercials, and about 90% doesn’t know which company belongs to the commercials…

  2. From this (http://www.flixxy.com/apeldoorn-insurance-ufo.htm) website comes this explanation:

    Centraal Beheer is an insurance company based in Apeldoorn, Netherlands. As one of the largest insurance companies in the country, it is usually referred to as “Apeldoorn”. All ads are followed by the phrase “Even Apeldoorn bellen” (”Let’s call Apeldoorn”), which is now used in Holland as a general phrase meaning “oops!”

  3. The HQ of this insurance company is in the Dutch place “Apeldoorn”. The phrase says “just call Apeldoorn for a minute” and is the catchphrase of the company (it is a form of ironical humor (or something like that)) , they also had funny commercials like a family going home from the zoo with a lion on the car roof without noticing it:p

  4. This is one of many ‘even apeldoorn bellen’ billboards. They are all from an insurance company (Achmea) with its head office in Apeldoorn. It means ‘just call Apeldoorn’.
    Just wanted to share that with you, since it is vital for appreciating the deeper meaning of the billboard.

  5. Woot super funny!!!

    its a dutch joke (i’m dutch).

    There is a company that sells insurrances named : apledooren (they are well known for this kind of billboards and stuf).

    So the bus sez: just call Apeldoorn!

  6. even apeldoorn bellen means something like :
    ‘just call apeldoorn’, in which apeldoorn is a city, and in that city there is a certain insurance company i believe

  7. I already new that one.
    But ‘even Apeldoorn bellen’ is in Dutch.
    It means: just call apeldoorn.

  8. Nice one indeed.

    This bus back advertisement is from an insurance company located in Apeldoorn, the Netherlands. It is famous for the line “Even Apeldoorn bellen” which somewhat means like: “Got to call Apeldoorn…”

    Unfortunately, this year on the Queen’s Birthday in Apeldoorn, some idiot drove through the crowd, trying to harm the Queen and her family.

    Therefore, the insurance company will not use this line anymore in all of her ads.

  9. OH WOW At first I even thought it was REAL and “That’s not an optical illusion!” Then I read on and OMGeh! Bang! I’m definitely calling that insurance company to compliment them.

    Anyways, what is that guy doing?

  10. “Even Apeldoorn bellen” means something like “Let’s call Apeldoorn”. It’s a slogan used by ‘Centraal Beheer Achmea’, an insurance company located in Apeldoorn, the Netherlands.

    Centraal Beheer Achmea and it’s slogan are well known in the Netherlands, thanks to numerous humoristic commercials about the company. (most of them are brilliant, in my opinion)
    Luckly for you guys, most of them are english! (don’t know, don’t ask)

  11. Even Apeldoorn bellen means: Let’s call Apeldoorn. This is a advertisement of “Centraal Beheer” which is a Dutch insurance company located in Apeldoorn. That slogan is very well known in the Netherlands for calling Centraal Beheer. They have a lot more of this advertisements and commercials. They even won several prices with them! I think youtube has a lot of these commercials.

  12. “Even Apeldoorn bellen” is Dutch for “Just call Apeldoorn”. It’s a commercial for an insurance company in Apeldoorn. :D

  13. Even apeldoorn bellen is dutch.
    Its means something like Let’s call apeldoorn!
    Its the slogan in commericals for a insurance company. Apeldoorn is a city in holland, guess they started with that name or something..:)

  14. It’s a Dutch bus, I see it almost every day. ”Even Apeldoorn Bellen” means ”Call Apeldoorn fast” or something like that, it’s hard to translate. Apeldoorn is a city in The Netherlands, it’s the home of a big insurance company called Achmea. This illusion is thus an insurance ad, i hope you get the joke now.

  15. Even apeldoorn bellen is dutch.
    Its means something like just call apeldoorn!
    Its the slogan in commericals for a insurance company. Apeldoorn is a city in holland, guess they started with that name or something..:)

  16. hahah lovely!
    “even apeldoorn bellen” means : just calling apeldoon ( apeldoorn is a city in Holland )
    in Holland you’ve got very funny commercials from “even apeldoorn bellen”

  17. Oew that a buscompany from the netherlands
    you know where the capital is Amsterdam :D

    wel anyway Even Apeldoorn bellen means
    just phone Apeldoorn (the insurance company)

    To bad that I havent seen this billboard jet
    It pretty funny :D

  18. “even apeldoorn bellen” The biggest ensurens company of the netherlands is in a city named apeldoorn. There slogan is if something goes wrong “Even apeldoorn bellen”. It means let’s make a call to apeldoorn.

  19. LoL, it appears that people are very intent on making sure other people know this is a dutch insurance company…

    Anyway, I love all their commercials and ads, they’re often quite funny…

  20. even apeldoorn bellen means: just call apeldoorn, which is the town where the insurance company is :)

  21. I would be terrified if I took my eyes off the road for a second, and suddenly saw this in front of me. What if that happened, and someone swerved to avoid it, and caused a massive pile-up. Shocking is a good advertising method, but it could lead to danger.

  22. Really cool, though I’ve seen that once alredy… abou the meaning, it’s hard to know if 99% of the people above KNOW it or r just copying from the others… anyways, who’s the poor bald man, representing the idiot bus driver? o.O
    Cheers!

  23. Reminds me of the u-haul decals that made it appear as if the truck roll-up-door was open. It was intended to show ‘how much’ you could pack inside, however, clueless motorists created dangerous situations when they’d try and flag down the driver, or dial 911, thinking the door was actually open.

  24. Awesome ad.
    This image is a definite keeper!

    I love the MOI vista sidebar gadget.

    I just wonder why so many people commenting here feel the need to restate what the phrase on the bus means. 21 out of 29 (30 – if you count this comment) comments say the same thing.

  25. I´m sorry to dispapoint you all, but I´m GREEK and that bus is in Athens, is the airport shuttle.

    Even Apeldoorn bellen means Even beautiful girls sleep at my dorm.

  26. Fun fact: they won’t be able to use that slogan anymore, as there was a ‘terrorist’ attack on the Dutch queen in Apeldoorn recently…

  27. Even appeldoorn bellen is the dutch translation of “just call apeldoorn”, the slogan for one of hollands biggest insurance companies.

    if you guys want to, and don’t get it, i can translate it again in some other way perhaps ?

  28. I honestly think this is one of the dumbest media stunts seen for advertising. The amount of wrecks such a stupid ad can cause is mind boggling.

    Of course being an insurance company it’s a bonus to em.

  29. if i remember right, Apeldoorn is a town, also this is a bad idea, it could cause a crash, it is cool yes but not a good idea

  30. haha awesome!
    i’m from holland, and this is the buss I used to ride 4 days a week,
    it connects rotterdam, to my hometown, zoetermeer ! :P
    sometimes they still have other comercialls a lot like these, but I still like this one the best XD

  31. Omg i dead serious I would step on the brakes if I ever ever saw that. I personally think that is dangerous yet awkward yet funny.

  32. It was a stupid idea. This will end up causing someone to swerve and crash. I can hear the sound of lawyers rubbing their hands together gleefully.

    On the upside, it’s an insurance company that will be sued and lose a chunk of money.

  33. Looks like every other Dutch contributor tried to explain what the ad was about. Every other not living in the Netherlands seems to think this is a bad idea. The fact is, this company is advertising with ‘disasters’ like this (you could start a entire website of these expressions) for decades now. All Dutch recognise within a split second it’s an ad.

    So it’s neither stupid, dangerous, or confusing in traffic.

  34. @Ed:
    It doesn’t matter at all if Centraal Beheer uses disaster ads for years or not. The fact is, it is still possibe that people – as they have to make quick (split second) decisions in traffic often – can make the wrong decision. Also, don’t forget: there are many ‘new adults’ (18yo’s) who watch little TV – many sit much more in front of the computer, nowadays.
    But, of course, in the Netherlands Centraal Beheer never could get a big fine, as would be possible in the USA for example. All they _could_ get, if really someone would get to trial over this, is a weak slap on the wrist and saying ‘don’t do it again’.
    (PS: Ja, ik ben ook Nederlander. En persoonlijk erger ik mij niet aan deze reclame, maar voor sommigen kan ie toch wel gevaarlijk overkomen in sommige situaties.)

  35. It is the front of the bus! So it is less wrong then you think. If you see this in your mirror you won’t be scared. Look better, especiallt if your dutch!

    1. Your the one who has to look better, this is the back of the bus. they dont put stickers on the front you know -_- also since it is not allowed to have red lights at the front of your car/bus.because thats is ment for the back. So yea im Dutch and i looked better. Now you

  36. Yep, Some people can’t see even when they are smartasses. Well ‘Think’ must be an American just like myself, Oh! boy that always makes me proud, just like the fact that you can sue for a hot cup of stupidity. Oh! Look for brake lights when driving behind such buses and stay on the righthand side just like in the US.

    Thanks and Centraal always has funny commercials when ever I watch tv in Nederland.

    Harfsen, may be small but what a beauty it is. ;)

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *