We've talked about green graffiti. Now get ready for "reverse graffiti" or 'clean tagging'. Popularized by British artist Paul Curtis, the idea is to stencil what you want to say by pressure-washing onto dirty cement. Sounds like a great idea. I mean, how can you get in trouble for actually cleaning the sidewalks?

 

Some rogue advertising using this reverse graffiti could get Coldplay and a Canadian cell phone company in a bit of trouble from Montreal authorities. The name of Coldplay's latest album, Viva la Vida, has been washed into sidewalks around the city and a Canadian cell phone company has used reverse graffiti to promote cell phone recylcing.

 

They could get fined about $200 for ignoring a rule about advertising on public property, and could get up to about $1000 for ironically breaking a cleanliness bylaw, even though the graffiti is cleaner that what was originally there. I'm guessing the fines are not going to hit either pocket very hard.

 

The cell phone company has decided to stop the practice and stick to less problematic advertising. No word on whether Coldplay wants to continue the pressure washing.

 

To remove the 'graffiti' the city could either wait until the cement gets grimed up again or try to pressure wash the whole thing. Either way, this method of advertising, particularly for green-conscious messages, could start springing up more and more. A huge mural in the San Francisco was recently commissioned by the green wing of the cleaning product company Clorox.

 

http://www.greendaily.com/2008/08/11/coldplay-could-get-into-trouble-for-reverse-graffiti/

Leaving a message underfoot

 

 

ADS ETCHED in the dirt on sidewalks blur the lines among art, advertising and environmental activism. They don't damage the concrete, so are they vandalism? But do pedestrians need another layer of commercial messages?

 

A well-dressed man stands on the sidewalk, cigarette in hand, staring at his feet - or rather, what's underneath them.

 

A word - Coldplay - and the title of the band's latest album are etched into the grimy surface of the sidewalk near the entrance to McGill University. "I've read them all. I was trying to figure out how they did it," said Luc Coutourier, 40, who had spent a few days pondering the ads on his smoke breaks.

 

In the next dirty patch, an ad for Telus mobile phones encourages consumers to recycle old handsets and provides a website address for details.

 

Pressure-washed into the dirty surfaces of sidewalks, the ads take an unconventional approach to an age-old marketing move: Put your company's logo or message in a public place, try to make an impression, and hope it translates into revenue - or at least buzz.

 

Rogue advertising is springing up in major cities across North America. Other methods - such as projecting product logos or promotional messages onto the walls of buildings in high-traffic areas at night - also have been observed on Montreal's streets.

 

Whether the ads are innovative or inappropriate is a matter of perspective.

 

"Even though they have not used paint, but rather cleaned the sidewalk, they have used the sidewalk for commercial purposes," Ville-Marie spokesperson Jacques-Alain Lavallée said.

 

Under the borough's urban development bylaw, advertising is forbidden on public property, and companies face a $200 fine for ignoring the rules.

 

Ironically, although the ads are not considered graffiti, the companies also could be fined up to $1,000 for a first offence under the borough's "cleanliness" bylaw, which prohibits "dirtying" public property.

 

"How would you have it removed?" Lavallée wondered. "Does that mean you would have to dirty the sidewalk again? That's very clever on their part."

 

The Telus ads were created by Montreal-based Media Experts at the end of May to coincide with Earth Week, but Lavallée said borough inspectors hadn't noticed them and would be investigating.

 

Many pedestrians said they liked the idea of the "reverse graffiti" ads, but wondered if the signs were visible enough to be effective.

 

"I work a couple blocks away and I've never seen them," said Claire d'Anglemont de Tassigny, 27. "It doesn't really feel like advertising, in a way. It actually looks kind of messy."

 

Still, d'Anglemont de Tassigny said it was "something different."

 

"We're surrounded by advertising all the time. I'd find it kind of neat if it was smaller companies or rock bands just trying to get started. But when you see Telus and Coldplay doing this kind of advertising, I'm not sure I'd be for it."

 

Although he didn't notice them at first, Gaétan Royer, 16, said putting ads on the sidewalk goes too far.

 

"There are advertisements everywhere - it's too much," said Royer, who was visiting from Paris with his family.

 

Danika Antiglio, 14, a student at Collège de Montréal, said there was "nothing wrong" with the ads. "It doesn't have an impact on the environment, so it's a good idea."

 

http://www.canada.com/montrealgazette/news/story.html?id=6f187ccf-9b0a-4050-b373-dfb1c9cefa84

hahahahahaha well theres a first for everything i guess

 

 

A word - Coldplay - and the title of the band's latest album are etched into the grimy surface of the sidewalk near the entrance to McGill University. "I've read them all. I was trying to figure out how they did it," said Luc Coutourier, 40, who had spent a few days pondering the ads on his smoke breaks.

 

 

 

yay!My university!!I have to go see that...

 

We've talked about green graffiti. Now get ready for "reverse graffiti" or 'clean tagging'. Popularized by British artist Paul Curtis, the idea is to stencil what you want to say by pressure-washing onto dirty cement. Sounds like a great idea. I mean, how can you get in trouble for actually cleaning the sidewalks?

 

Some rogue advertising using this reverse graffiti could get Coldplay and a Canadian cell phone company in a bit of trouble from Montreal authorities. The name of Coldplay's latest album, Viva la Vida, has been washed into sidewalks around the city and a Canadian cell phone company has used reverse graffiti to promote cell phone recylcing.

 

They could get fined about $200 for ignoring a rule about advertising on public property, and could get up to about $1000 for ironically breaking a cleanliness bylaw, even though the graffiti is cleaner that what was originally there. I'm guessing the fines are not going to hit either pocket very hard.

 

The cell phone company has decided to stop the practice and stick to less problematic advertising. No word on whether Coldplay wants to continue the pressure washing.

 

To remove the 'graffiti' the city could either wait until the cement gets grimed up again or try to pressure wash the whole thing. Either way, this method of advertising, particularly for green-conscious messages, could start springing up more and more. A huge mural in the San Francisco was recently commissioned by the green wing of the cleaning product company Clorox.

 

http://www.greendaily.com/2008/08/11/coldplay-could-get-into-trouble-for-reverse-graffiti/

 

 

 

 

 

 

That pic looks like the music video for Trouble!:laugh3:

 

 

 

 

 

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lol pretty clever actually, though I'm not sure how I feel about being surrounded by advertising at all times.

Haha. Well done, boys! The irony is that part about waiting for the whole thing to grime over again, so the dirt will once again be equally distributes! Too funny.:D

Advertising cell phone recycling makes sense, since the revers graffiti movement is an environmental perspective, but Coldplay's new album? That doesn't make sense.

 

But it also doesn't make sense that anyone should really get in trouble for something that's basically cleaning.

They could get fined about $200 for ignoring a rule about advertising on public property, and could get up to about $1000 for ironically breaking a cleanliness bylaw, even though the graffiti is cleaner that what was originally there. I'm guessing the fines are not going to hit either pocket very hard.

 

Me: Have you wrote the check yet?

Chris: When you're that rich, you don't write checks.

Me: So how will you pay the fine?

Chris: Straight cash, homie!

 

 

 

Somehow I can't see Chris doing that.:\

Me: Have you wrote the check yet?

Chris: When you're that rich, you don't write checks.

Me: So how will you pay the fine?

Chris: Straight cash, homie!

 

 

 

Somehow I can't see Chris doing that.:\

 

:laugh3: *Straight cash, Homie!*