The Anti-Advertising Agency » nyc

These Are Not Sentences!

Steve Lambert — Thu, 25 Feb 2010 03:15:50 +0000

Remember, it just takes one pen. Send us yours.

Seen in a subway station.

This makes me angry

Michael Mandiberg — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 12:26:31 +0000

This makes me wish I had a big fat marker with me to cover this up in something other than this insidious shit. And i don’t really ever have the impulse to tag.

Canal and Broadway. All you Chisel-tippers and KRINKers go after it.

Who owns & who controls public space?

Michael Mandiberg — Sat, 16 Jan 2010 04:29:55 +0000

Two things happened on my bike today, one which is about advertising and the other isn’t but both are about public space and it’s uses and controls.

One: who owns the street sign posts

This morning I rode my bike to a not-so-close subway stop because I had to run into Manhattan for a meeting and make another meeting in Brooklyn right after that one. And I was late. I get to the station, find a street sign to lock up to, and the guy hawking the Daily News comes up to me yelling. He tells me that is his sign, and that he is going to lock up his newspaper rack AND stool to it, and I have to go find somewhere else. I tell him he doesn’t own the street sign and start locking up, and he says that if I do that he will simply lock his rack up around my bike and I will not be able to get it out. And I’m running late.

As I scuffled off around the corner to find another street sign on the next block my head was full of expletives, but now, sitting on the ferry to Staten Island I am a bit more calm about it, but I have nagging questions: who owns the space. Who has the right to lock what to signs. Are the rights of individuals different than those of corporations. What about corporations acting via pseudo-independent citizens like the Daily News guy. And what is the answer in principle, what is the law’s answer, and how wide is the gap?

Two: obeying the law like an obedient dog.

I ride the Staten Island ferry three times a week to teach at the College of Staten Island. Sometimes I am on bicycle (not as often this semester as I would like) and usually I have a backpack full of books, student papers and my daily rations for my excursion into the crypto-suburbs. Almost every time I pass through the threshold of security I am eyed by the man with the bomb dog. About half of the time he asks me to take my bag off and let his dog inspect it. But every time one of the bomb-dog-men tells me to take off my bag for inspection he says it as if I should already know that I was supposed to take it off for him.

Today I’m running late (its the theme for today) and I am trotting towards the door to the downstairs bikes-only segregated waiting area in my bike shoes (which means I can’t go very fast), and the man yells out “Hey! You!” and points at me. He is jogging over to me. He simply points to the ground. I’ve done this enough times that I have internalized this procedure. I remove my bag and put it on the floor. Take two steps back. You always have to step back from the bag — as if it is a bomb… The dog sniffs it for 10 seconds. Walks back to his master, and the master walks away.

It is amazing that I have been interpolated into the bomb-dog-man’s vocabulary of power. He calls out short commands, I stop, and respond. He points to the ground. I know what the command means, and do as commanded. I am an obedient, well disciplined dog in the dog master’s control society.

NY Street Art Takeover Mini Documentary

Steve Lambert — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 18:06:03 +0000

how did I not see this before?

Posterchild’s Blade Diary » Something Very Special..

Steve Lambert — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 06:15:09 +0000

From Posterchild’s site:

She thought she was just helping me out with another street art project; I kept this covered until after it was installed and after the unveiling I was expecting some kind of reaction- but it took a little while to convince her that this was a proposal for real, and not just some art project!

via Posterchild’s Blade Diary » Archive » Something Very Special...

A Funny Place to Advertise Pizza

kelli — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 20:00:57 +0000

Couldn’t resist…

No related posts.

Confusing on several levels…

kelli — Fri, 04 Sep 2009 23:01:50 +0000

Welcome Kelli Anderson, our newest latest on the Anti-Advertising Agency site. Kelli worked on the New York Times Special Edition designing ads for Dr. Zizmor among other things. Welcome Kelli!

“For sale” realty signs are a familiar sight in post-real-estate-bubble Williamsburg. It was only a matter of time until some super clever ad exec co-opted this ubiquitous format for some good ol’ guerilla marketing. Well folks, that time has come. And the product for sale (a tv show which features Courtney Cox as a predatory “older” woman ) looks pretty ill-considered as well:

In a neighborhood already awash in actual foreclosure signs and vacant luxury condos, this is almost certainly meant to be a sick joke, right? Or else, borne out of some new type of cynical, afflicted optimism (“in sadness/opportunity,” “if lemons/lemonade,” etc.)? What will the neighbors think, after all?

In an interesting twist of unintentional comedy (or postmodern self-realization?), the content of the show follows a similar thematic trend:

Courtney Cox’s needy female protagonist [Is To] Sadness^TM

Meaningless flings with young studs [Is To] Opportunity^TM

It is an “empowering!^TM ” analogy.

Very disappointing stuff, considering the dearth of middle-aged female characters on TV. I guess they were just waiting for the right demeaning stereotype to come along…

Will someone please call that 877 number and see if the place is really for sale?

Bonus: Funny banter on the subject of the confusing “pumas/cougars/mountain lions” thing by The Hater podcast.

Update: Following the recent Brownstoner post on the faux-real estate/faux-cougar ads, several commentators questioned the signs’ legality. The NYC Department of Buildings prohibits signs at residential addresses that advertise products unrelated to that address, but permits signs that “direct attention to a business at the same location as the sign.” In other words, a [legitimate] “For Sale, Call Realtor” sign is permissible, while leasing your yard to Verizon (so they can shave their logo into the grass) would be illegal. This-parody-of-the-real-thing is ultimately NOT the real thing would inevitably fall into the illegal advertising category. See NYC’s Outdoor Sign Guidelines and the city’s definition of “Advertising Signs” for more information.

Be-twix and ad and a hard case

Michael Mandiberg — Sun, 30 Aug 2009 10:42:01 +0000

So the question is… is this a twix advertisement? or was it just that cool to paint a Twix logo on the back of your white portable radio in the heyday of 80′s graffiti-cool?

Picture via Mariasa Olson’s flickr set IMG_FAN

PosterChild Tells NPA What He Thinks Of Their Contest Promotions

Steve Lambert — Tue, 04 Aug 2009 01:56:26 +0000

via Public Ad Campaign

Yesterday I went out with PosterChild, Jason Eppink, Steve Lambert, and Packard Jennings for lunch. Our talk inevitably surrounded upcoming personal projects, collaborative street actions and the age of the urinals at the Old Town Bar on 18th street. Posterchild was leaving for Toronto that evening and had one last project to put up before he left. Targeting NPA Outdoor‘s pathetic attempt to convert their third party illegal advertisements into legitimate first party signs, he remade the typical sign that now adorns all NPA illegal signage in the city. This piece was made at the corner of 19th street and 10th avenue in the same location Walker Tieser was arrested during the NYSAT project.

via Public Ad Campaign: PosterChild Tells NPA What He Thinks Of Their Contest Promotions.

See what Charlie Todd at Urban Prankster thinks.

3 ton sign falls onto Broadway, N.Y. (1912)

Steve Lambert — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 18:29:26 +0000

Just found this amazing image while doing some research. Another reason why the Department of Buildings regulates billboards.

Flickr Photo Download: 3 Ton Electric Sign Blown into Brdway, N.Y. (LOC). Another angle.