5 ms·

Banksy on advertising, in 2004: People are taking the piss out of you everyday. They butt into your life, take a cheap shot at you and then disappear. They lee

by GuiA 8y ago

Banksy on advertising, in 2004: People are taking the piss out of you everyday. They butt into your life, take a cheap shot at you and then disappear. They leer at you from tall buildings and make you feel small. They make flippant comments from buses that imply you're not sexy enough and that all the fun is happening somewhere else. They are on TV making your girlfriend feel inadequate. They have access to the most sophisticated technology the world has ever seen and they bully you with it. They are The Advertisers and they are laughing at you. You, however, are forbidden to touch them. Trademarks, intellectual property rights and copyright law mean advertisers can say what they like wherever they like with total impunity. Fuck that. Any advert in a public space that gives you no choice whether you see it or not is yours. It's yours to take, re-arrange and re-use. You can do whatever you like with it. Asking for permission is like asking to keep a rock someone just threw at your head. You owe the companies nothing. Less than nothing, you especially don't owe them any courtesy. They owe you. They have re-arranged the world to put themselves in front of you. They never asked for your permission, don't even start asking for theirs. The problem is that you can't graffiti or tear down a digital ad. Activism is nigh impossible in digital walled gardens.

johnchristopher 8y ago
You can do better and just install an ad blocker though. Activism against ads in public space is still a very much IRL activity.
random878 8y ago
>People are taking the piss out of you everyday. >in a public space that gives you no choice whether you see it or not is yours. >what they like wherever they like with total impunity. >Less than nothing, you especially don't owe them any courtesy >They never asked for your permission Sums up vandals like Banksy pretty well too.
jrockway 8y ago
I don't really see the difference between Banksy having himself plastered all over the media for shredding his artwork versus Colgate telling me to buy their toothpaste. Banksy understands and uses advertising better than anyone.
- chmod775 8y ago
  Is he paying for that advertising or are journalists voluntarily giving him publicity? Big difference here. When I read the news I freely subject myself to what the journalists of my choice considered newsworthy. I have little say in what kind of ads I'm bombarded with, as OP demonstrated and banksy implied.
- GuiA 8y ago
  Well, that was 14 years ago. It's hard to remain on your outraged and righteous path when you start getting fat checks for it (see also Black Mirror s1e2, "Fifteen Million Merits").
  - PavlovsCat 8y ago
    The ending of the Black Mirror episode doesn't take away from the "speech" that comes before that, though: > You pull a face, and poke it towards the stage, and we lah-di-dah, we sing and dance and tumble around. And all you see up here, it's not people, you don't see people up here, it's all fodder. And the faker the fodder, the more you love it, because fake fodder's the only thing that works any more. It's all that we can stomach. [..] Fuck you all for thinking the one thing I came close to never meant anything. For oozing around it and crushing it into a bone, into a joke. One more ugly joke in a kingdom of millions. In my mind, the last person to blame is the one who at least made an attempt to be more, who made no "mistake" other than being one human -- facing millions who just watch -- and being oozed around and crushed eventually. Selling out will never suck as much as people, who never even had what another person sold out, being smug about someone selling out. It's like they think it vindicates them for not even having tried. (not that I read your comment as what I'm complaining about, it's a general observation. Freebird!)
- PascLeRasc 8y ago
  https://twitter.com/dril/status/473265809079693312?lang=en https://twitter.com/dril/status/473265809079693312?lang=en
- bogomipz 8y ago
  That's a false equivalency. Banksy wasn't "having himself plastered all over the media" - he didn't do any media buys or pay anyone to promote him.
paulie_a 8y ago
The problem is that banksy is incredibly self promoting and making millions. Talk about a huge hipocrite. "I'll cash my check pretending to not advertise his work, oh and don't be an advertising whore, seriously where is my check"

by GuiA 8y ago

johnchristopher 8y ago

You can do better and just install an ad blocker though. Activism against ads in public space is still a very much IRL activity.

random878 8y ago

>People are taking the piss out of you everyday. >in a public space that gives you no choice whether you see it or not is yours. >what they like wherever they like with total impunity. >Less than nothing, you especially don't owe them any courtesy >They never asked for your permission Sums up vandals like Banksy pretty well too.

jrockway 8y ago

I don't really see the difference between Banksy having himself plastered all over the media for shredding his artwork versus Colgate telling me to buy their toothpaste. Banksy understands and uses advertising better than anyone.

chmod775 8y ago
Is he paying for that advertising or are journalists voluntarily giving him publicity? Big difference here. When I read the news I freely subject myself to what the journalists of my choice considered newsworthy. I have little say in what kind of ads I'm bombarded with, as OP demonstrated and banksy implied.
GuiA 8y ago
Well, that was 14 years ago. It's hard to remain on your outraged and righteous path when you start getting fat checks for it (see also Black Mirror s1e2, "Fifteen Million Merits").
- PavlovsCat 8y ago
  The ending of the Black Mirror episode doesn't take away from the "speech" that comes before that, though: > You pull a face, and poke it towards the stage, and we lah-di-dah, we sing and dance and tumble around. And all you see up here, it's not people, you don't see people up here, it's all fodder. And the faker the fodder, the more you love it, because fake fodder's the only thing that works any more. It's all that we can stomach. [..] Fuck you all for thinking the one thing I came close to never meant anything. For oozing around it and crushing it into a bone, into a joke. One more ugly joke in a kingdom of millions. In my mind, the last person to blame is the one who at least made an attempt to be more, who made no "mistake" other than being one human -- facing millions who just watch -- and being oozed around and crushed eventually. Selling out will never suck as much as people, who never even had what another person sold out, being smug about someone selling out. It's like they think it vindicates them for not even having tried. (not that I read your comment as what I'm complaining about, it's a general observation. Freebird!)
PascLeRasc 8y ago
https://twitter.com/dril/status/473265809079693312?lang=en https://twitter.com/dril/status/473265809079693312?lang=en
bogomipz 8y ago
That's a false equivalency. Banksy wasn't "having himself plastered all over the media" - he didn't do any media buys or pay anyone to promote him.

paulie_a 8y ago

The problem is that banksy is incredibly self promoting and making millions. Talk about a huge hipocrite. "I'll cash my check pretending to not advertise his work, oh and don't be an advertising whore, seriously where is my check"