Legal Sony graffiti advertising backlash

December 7, 2005 A new advertising campaign in USA for the Sony PSP which looks like graffiti and is often sprayed on previously vandalized walls has come under attack from other graffiti artists. A collective group of graffiti artists and street artists are now banding together, vandalizing the look-alike graffiti advertisements. The campaign has offended a lot of graffiti artists and street artists, drawing responses like "keep your desperate corporate long arm out of a movement that is the only thing that is ours!"

But not all the responses have been negative, with many artists defending Sony saying they have the right. Other advertising companies have also voiced their support. "Sony and PSP have every right to use this type of media," Floyd Hayes, the head creative director at Cunning Work told Wired News. "They have done it for (a) very long time very successfully and spoke the language of the streets without being patronizing." Sony says it is paying the building owners like Casa Maria for the right to advertise on their walls. Casa Maria was paid $100 for two weeks' use of its wall, co-owner Mario Arana told Wired News. Tats Cru, the graffiti crew responsible for the designs, have also been targeted with insulting slogans on Sony's advertisements.