Thugs defacing billboard property

Posted on 11. Apr, 2008 by Jonathan Cherry in Advertising

Thanks to Justin for sending in these ‘tagged’ mobile billboards, which he spotted somewhere on the side of the road [cnr of Kendal and
Main in Diep River] in Cape Town.

It looks as if some little loser bastards with a can of paint have gone and destroyed this stylish, well-respected item of urban furniture with their culture of hip hop and Bape. But that’s the beauty of the graphic illusion.

Even the wheels are missing, just adding to your desperation to move to Camps Bay.

10 Responses to “Thugs defacing billboard property”

Tamisme

11. Apr, 2008

It looks as if some taggers have just added to the sentiment of this ad.
Jonathan

11. Apr, 2008

Are you sure it is not intentional?
as in, The graffiti is a part of the advert?
It fits in perfectly with the line “Looking for a better neighbourhood?”
Marcel

11. Apr, 2008

I’m pretty sure that was all intentional. Great idea if it was!
If it wasn’t intentional, the value of that piece of marketing just increased because now it’s conversational & attention-commanding. Even including the cost of cleaning the trailer & replacing the tyre.
Life imitating marketing imitating art?
Fish

11. Apr, 2008

Good to see an illegal trailer defaced. As for the wheel being removed, it’s quite common for the operators/billboard squatters to remove a wheel so that their trailer can’t be towed away by the Metro Police.
If it was tagged on purpose it’s a good bit of creative…
Colin Seymour

11. Apr, 2008

I’d say this is intentional and part of the whole advert and a brilliant way of getting the point across.
Note how the graffiti “conveniently” avoids the writing and logo in the box along the bottom and doesn’t occur at all on the back. Also note how the tag on the left stops perfectly with the black edging. Taggers are more interested in getting their tag on and hauling arse before they get caught. They wouldn’t worry about trying to not get paint on the “nice shiney black bits”.
Oh, and the trailer is pinned/supported between the missing wheel and the dolly wheel (probably so it doesn’t fall over when the wind blows).
This is just South African advertising at it’s best.
coda

12. Apr, 2008

I’d love to see some offended local graf artists take some real paint to the ad, that would make my day!
Karen Lotter

13. Apr, 2008

Ja, I wondered about the tagging when I first had a look, seemed to me like it was positioned by a graphic designer. Are companies just allowed to park their advertising trailers like that on open ground?
Jay

15. Apr, 2008

I saw this same trailer parked near Tygervalley Centre, Bellville over the weekend, and couldn’t believe that it would be defaced so quickly, thinking whats happening to this neighborhood. Now seeing it on this site it all makes sense, and was an incredibly effective advert. Good work Media 24!
shebeen

15. Apr, 2008

yip definitely intentional guys? come on! Saw it about a month ago, and took a picture myself. it’s on the phone somewhere.
only thing is, this was in Constantia near Uitsig, not the worst neighbourhood around (and my parents would be offended!)
WaynO

16. Apr, 2008

yep, it was intentional.
Im one of the guys who worked on it. The graffiti and posters were done intentionally, but after a while it was vandalised for “real” i.e. the ripping in the middle and the missing wheel, adding to the concept further.
It was done by Ogilvy Cape Town for their client Property24, in order to get people to visit their website.