Public Ad Campaign: I Mean What Would You Do In My Shoes

As you probably know I have an aversion to outdoor advertising using the streets of our cities to hock the commercial. I believe one must be weary of brands, commercialism, and the psychological ills that come with it. That said, commercial messages can often be avoided in most mediums through simple acts like muting the radio, DVR'ing your TV, or using add-art to filter your internet consumption. Alternately when using the streets, these incredibly self serving messages give the public no option but forced consumption, and by default integration. While I have many other opinions on how the streets should be used, this basic fact about advertising in public fuels much of the activist side of the PublicAdCampaign project and the aggressive stance on illegal commercial signage.

With that said, Mediacy has decided to openly flout the law while making bold claims of artistic philanthropy in New York City. I find this very hard to stomach as it seems artists and individuals are hunted by a very expensive Vandal Squad, while advertisers (despite the DOB Sign Enforcement Unit's continued efforts) openly violate the law in broad daylight.

Recently I began a Mediacy Advertising Location map with the help of PublicAdCampaign readers, marking illegal locations we had found around the city. This week I was out and about in the city and came across a stockpile of them in the Lower East Side. I also ran into two employees installing one of the ads at 132 Delancey and took some photographs of them and their truck. This brings the map to 11 locations, 10 of which are affixed to buildings with absolutely no sign permits, making them very clearly illegal advertising. Oddly, the location where the installers were working, 132 Delancey street did have an SG work permit granted very recently. I believe this permit is for the Contest Promotions sign also affixed to this building but I cannot be sure. I therefore don't want to say that the Mediacy ad at 132 Delancey is illegal, although I am pretty sure.