Graffiti-like ads drawing protests in Philadelphia
City threatens fines over Sony campaign
PHILADELPHIA -- Graffiti and billboards are sensitive topics in this densely packed city, where municipal officials and community groups have joined forces in recent years to crack down on advertisers who had blanketed low-income neighborhoods with ads for beer, liquor, and action films.
The city prides itself on the hundreds of murals that decorate walls and buildings once covered with graffiti.
In addition, Mayor John Street has waged a campaign to clean up the city, mounting programs to erase graffiti, clean up vacant lots, and tow abandoned cars.
So, many in the city took offense when what appeared to be graffiti on building walls in North Philadelphia in recent weeks turned out to be what many consider even more annoying -- stealth advertising.
The caricatures depicted wide-eyed children playing with video toys.
They were part of an advertising campaign by
Anti-graffiti activists were incensed. Graffiti aficionados were appalled.
One of the three downtown ads was painted over, apparently by an anti-graffiti watchdog group that might or might not have realized it was an ad.
And last week, the city cited Sony for violating sign ordinances and ordered the company to remove the ads -- or the city would take them down.
Sony was warned that it faces fines for posting ads without a permit.
''They are not only illegal -- they are disrespectful to the community," Joe Grace, the mayor's communications director, said in an interview Friday. ''We believe in removing urban blight . . . and now we have a major corporation come in and just throw up ads without approval."
Grace said the city had not heard back from Sony, and public relations officials for the company did not respond to requests for comment Friday.
Recently, a Sony spokeswoman was quoted on Wired magazine's website as saying the ads are aimed at ''urban nomads, people who are on the go constantly."
Neither the product name nor the Sony brand is mentioned in the ads, which graffiti foes say have appeared in six other cities, including New York, San Francisco, and Los Angeles.
Mary Tracy, director of SCRUB -- Society Created to Reduce Urban Blight -- an activist group that fights illegal outdoor advertising and graffiti in Philadelphia, said Sony hired local artists to paint in an effort to appear edgy.
Her group protested to city officials.
''It's appalling," Tracy said. ''Sony seems to have a sense of entitlement -- that they can festoon our neighborhoods with their branding anywhere they want."
Grace said that neither Sony nor the owners of properties where the ads appeared had sought or received required licensing and zoning approval.
He said that the city has cited one building owner who was paid by Sony for ad space.
Any fines would be determined by a court, he said.
