Sony gets a fat lip

What in the world? What does graffiti have anything to do with Sony? And what about the above photo gives them a swollen beak? It's simple kids...they're posers!

I was in the middle of my daily check of Skyscraperpage.com when I came across a thread about Sony defacing the Mission neighborhood. Naturally I'm intrigued by the title. I come to find photos of graffiti that was placed on buildings...not by taggers...but by Sony themselves.

Okay, here's the deal. The Mission is home to some of the most creative and artistically genius tagging on the west coast. There are other cities that have similar issues (or problems, depending on how you look at it). So Sony decided it would be a creative idea to hire people around the country to faux tag buildings with ads displaying their new PSP. They've hired wannabe hipsters to take pre-made screens and place these little ads, that look like graffiti, on sides of random buildings and structures. Kinda ballsy for a big-time corp I say! But after doing some research provided to me by Soulcookie, I checked out an article in Wired Magazine titled Sony Draws Ire With PSP Graffiti. The story mentions Sony has paid these building owners to place these ads on them. So what looks like underground tagging is actually a paid advertisment displayed completely within the law.



So now that you have the story, what are your thoughts? Here's where I think they went wrong...

Sony is a corporation. Graffiti and tagging goes completely against the grain of corporate society. It's like a revolt against the structure of our society. These are artist who find the joy in a blank train or wall, not in the boundries limited in painting on a canvas. Graffiti isn't about the corporate world. It's not about the politics of getting your work in a gallery and selling it to make a profit. It's about art for the world to see without the ego driving it. It's about operating beyond our laws and within your own boundries. It's art in its purest form. Sure, you'll see a name tagged here and there. But you'll never see the artist, nor will they ever publically take credit. (getting arrested curbs that one) Graffiti is the ultimate undergound source of expression.

Sony tried to be cool. They tried to appeal to a young and hip urban audience who understands graffiti. But as anyone knows, if you take the under out of undergound, it's just not the same. Anyone who understands the very essence of something underground knows that the moment you go mainstream, it loses its appeal. This is why so many DJs try to avoid selling out to mainstream producers. It's why hip-hop artist try to maintain their street cred, even though they live in 'uber-rich suburbia.

No one really cares that Sony created ads that look like graffiti. They care that Sony tried to pass them off as something organic. Trust me, I like the idea of guerrilla advertising. I see the advantages of using everyday life to tip society into buying your product. Ben Affleck and Jen Garner know very well how much walking around with Starbucks coffee all the time helps keep that brand in everyones mind. (not suggesting there's anything going on there between the happy couple and S'bucks)



So, Sony got a fat pucker because they tried to front. Back to the drawing boards Sony...or better yet, back to the agency. Hey, call my friend Adam in NYC, he's quite the ad guy on Madison.

posted by DVS @ 2:11 PM