Apparently my outrage at the commodification of public space has friends, friends with spray paint. A recent AdBusters article discussed the combatting of "illegal street advertising." Illegal in this case means the coopting of public space to push product on unsuspecting consumers, and combat means, well...this:
Armed with paint rollers, spray cans and video equipment, activists took to the streets on April 25th wearing florescent orange construction vests. (Covertness, it seemed, was not a top priority). The mixed brigade of culture jammers — ranging from artists and architects to software developers and bio-physicists — swiftly whitewashed 126 of the offending advertisements.
Calling themselves the Municipal Landscape Control Committee, the team turned the newly-buffed billboards into multimedia art. Across Manhattan, walls that formerly peddled electronics, designer clothes and alcohol were reclaimed in the name of peace, laughter and high-fives.
For more on how to take back the streets, peep Illegalbillboards.org and PublicAdCampaign.com
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