Copycat Sites Try To Redirect Traffic And The Message

Just a few minutes ago I finished talking to a graduate student whose thesis revolves around media production in public space. As per usual, I will pretty much talk to anyone who wants more information about these issues as it is a vital way of disseminating information. We spoke for nearly 3 hours at which point the PublicAdCampaign domain URL came up. She asked if I had condoned the use of PublicAdCampaign.org and PublicAdCampaign.net. I told her I didn't know what she was talking about and immediately went to those addresses. Low and behold, someone has produced two copycat sites that are less than excited about the work we do here.

Many of the posts seem to suggest that PublicAdCampaign is all a big elaborate scheme to be self promotional and I would assume makes lots and lots of money as an artist. While this couldn't be further from the truth, it does raise an important point that I think we haven't talked about in quite some time. Mainly that my work in public does not lead back to me in any way shape or form. There are no logos, signatures, websites, or any other forms of promotional engineering specifically so that the work remains true to its cause and remains as effective political commentary. In fact, I have tried, often with great difficulty, to keep each project stylistically different enough that the content of my work would not lead you back to me as the producer. I consider the work that I do to be a gift to the public and a challenge to the current uses of public space. To misconstrue that as self promotion seems a result of aggravation with the efficacy of the PublicAdCampaign project and its entirely unselfish goals.

I gotta say I think it is pretty amazing that someone would go through the trouble of ripping off my site and buying domain names just to bad mouth what we do here. I feel honored that we are worthy of such treatment. Sadly it seems that whoever is responsible for this little prank stopped posting in April, maybe cause they didn't get the reaction they wanted. While they may have stopped posting, they do come up in a google search so it seems they are redirecting some traffic away from the real PublicAdCampaign site so if anyone wants to help me draft a cease and desist order it would be appreciated. HA! Oh the internet.