I’ve seen these all over Europe. Some have simple images of the cross flashing, some have windows screensaver esque animations, and some have 3d renders of various things rotating in all sorts of ways. Why is that? Wouldn’t a simple green cross be enough to get the point across, or do they need to be overly verbose? Here’s the full video instead of a gif

  • neidu2@feddit.nl
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    2 months ago

    Must be a continental thing. Here in noggieland we have a simple illuminated green cross.

  • franglais@lemm.ee
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    2 months ago

    There are some that flash super bright, and super fast, in winter, when driving home in the dark, it feels like I’m on the verge of an epileptic fit, must be a nightmare for those who have to live with that shining in through their windows.

  • FalseMyrmidon@kbin.run
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    2 months ago

    I don’t think we have those in the US at all.

    Anyways it’s probably like that because it’s eye-catching. Eg it’s an ad

    • yngmnwntr@lemmy.ml
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      2 months ago

      Depends where you’re at in the US. In oregon this symbol is used for cannabis dispensaries, meaning it is extremely common.

  • twinnie@feddit.uk
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    2 months ago

    Loads in Morocco as well, they have loads of pharmacies due to all the French influence.

  • MudMan@fedia.io
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    2 months ago

    I mean, the lit-up signs are for visibility. In some countries pharmacies are assigned strict working hours by the government, so it’s useful to see at a glance if a pharmacy is currently open without having to walk right up to the door (and night shifts may require ringing a bell in some of them, so that’s also helpful to convey that they are in fact open).

    The fancy animations are just because when signs went from neon-lit to LEDs it turned out not all pharmacists have good design sensibilities. At least as far as I can tell.

    • Damage@feddit.it
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      2 months ago

      This. The big green cross had the purpose of helping people locate open pharmacies, so they already were a sort of advertisement, in a tangential way… when technology allowed for flasher ones, most businesses went for it, because why not.

  • AllNewTypeFace@leminal.space
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    2 months ago

    Maybe some of Europe’s surfeit of demo coders had to make their money somehow, and one of them persuaded a pharmacy that paying them to make them a sign with graphics that spin in eyecatching ways would be a good idea, and the rest was history?

    • ChaoticNeutralCzech@feddit.orgEnglish
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      2 months ago

      They don’t even need to persuade individual pharmacies. In my country, there is a trade organization of pharmacies that self-regulates the industry and decides, among other things, on the short list of companies whose crosses are allowed to be installed. There are only 6 so getting on that list will give anyone a huge number of orders.

    • Sparky@lemmy.blahaj.zoneOP
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      2 months ago

      That could be what happened, but at a factory. I’ve noticed that a lot of them have similar graphics, so it might be a preset added in by the manufacturer.

  • Thurstylark@lemm.eeEnglish
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    2 months ago

    Ok, so this might be an americanism, but the green cross says “cannabis dispensary” to me. At least around me, the medical marijuana industry is somewhat separated from the medical industry, and dispensaries are entirely different establishments from pharmacies. Pharmacies (and other medical establishments) will tend to use the red cross if they’re using a generalized symbol.

    But that’s just my context, so I don’t have much of an answer beyond “this is what it means 'round these parts”

      • Thurstylark@lemm.eeEnglish
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        2 months ago

        That’s definitely part of my blind spot here. I don’t know of anywhere that uses a green cross for something other than a dispensary, but I also don’t know a lot of things , sooo¯\_(ツ)_/¯

        • VonReposti@feddit.dk
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          2 months ago

          The green cross is the universal symbol for pharmacies in Southern Europe. Admittedly I haven’t checked if any of them do have cannabis, but I’d recommend not asking pharmacists whether they got it. As others mentioned, the red cross wouldn’t be used as that would be a Geneva conventions violation.

          • black0ut@pawb.social
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            2 months ago

            Indeed, the green cross is the symbol for pharmacies here in Spain and in most places I’ve been (including a bit of northern europe).

            None of them sell cannabis. If legal to sell, it needs to be sold in separate stores, which usually don’t have flashing signs. Those stores can’t use the green cross as a symbol.

      • slickgoat@lemmy.world
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        2 months ago

        It is universal in France. Sometimes you can stand in the street and see four or five flashing away in your view. I kinda like them, don’t have them in my country.

    • teawrecks@sopuli.xyz
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      2 months ago

      The red cross symbol is actually not a generalized symbol and use of it is heavily controlled by the American Red Cross non-profit. There is a history of lawsuits against video games for using the red cross on medkits without permission. If a pharmacy in the US uses it, they no doubt had to seek approval.

    • tacosplease@lemmy.world
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      2 months ago

      To add to this, the US already has a universal symbol for pharmacies. It’s a capital R with the slanted leg extended past the bottom of the R and crossed to make a X.

  • xmunk@sh.itjust.works
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    2 months ago

    Because they’re easy to recognize and consistent? It’s honestly more weird that other areas of the world haven’t followed suit.

  • lud@lemm.ee
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    2 months ago

    I saw a lot of those in Tenerife and it felt really weird. That is completely absent where I live.

  • Bronzie@sh.itjust.works
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    2 months ago

    I’ve seen them in southern Europe on vacation, but never in the Nordics. Allways thought it was a Iberian/Latin thing (FR, ES, IT, PT). Guess they are more common than I thought.

    • wootz@lemmy.world
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      2 months ago

      They’re slowing creeping in here in Denmark.

      There is one around the corner from where I live. It doesn’t display anything but time and temperature (yet), but every time I walk past I secretly hope they’ve fired up the rave machine.

    • tmpod@lemmy.ptM
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      2 months ago

      Can confirm that in Portugal, pretty much every single pharmacy has one of these, with varying degrees of wacky 2D/3D animations and info display.