Maria Sharapova Delivers Canon PowerShot

In a unique street posting, caught on camera by Bucky Turco, Canon has created an interesting, 3D-like wallscape that shows tennis balls embedded into a brick wall as if Maria, herself, was in the middle of the road whacking balls into the bricks. Affixed to the wall, along with the images of tennis balls, are stickers that say, "Maria was here. Canon PowerShot." Very creative if we do say so ourselves. See another image here.

Abercrombie & Fitch Erect Giant Bulge

Spotted by our ever vigilant Bucky Turco next to the Prada store on 5th Avenue in New York City, Abercrombie & Fitch has erected a huge billboard in the form of a jeans-clad gentleman sporting what many might find to be a nice package. The doorway into his crotch is a nice touch too.

Jockey Guys Sits Up For Ladies

In response to our equal opportunity post about the Bench Body billboard which we felt would be of interest to our female readers, New Zealand reader, Jacqui suggests another. Jacqui says Jockey is running a campaign, part of which is a giant billboard showing a six-packed guy doing sit ups just as he does on this website here. Enjoy.

Ad Postings Encourage Graffiti

Today, Bucky Turco was walking down the street and noticed a new ad for New York Sports Club. It was a series of wild postings in groups of 4 that said "________Better" and were accompanied by various images supporting the copy that was printed but looked like it was written in with marker. They copy read: Oh my God Better, Scram Better, and Play Better.

One of the spaces was blank so Turco decided to write in BLOG Better just for fun with a marker. Turco wonders if this could be construed as breaking the law by defacing property paid for by an advertiser and also wonders whether advertising that encourages people to interact or write on it, could classify the writing as graffiti, an art form many consider illegal. Certainly, it's a gray area yet encouraging people to interact with advertising can have it's benefits.

Big Bench Body Billboard Begs

Since way too many Adrants stories feature scantily clad women in ads begging people to buy stuff, we thought we'd give a proper nod to our sizable female readership and share this outdoor board for Philippine fashion label Bench Body.

Mystery Stealth Marketing Sits Atop Manhattan Bank

Oh joy! Another stealth marketing effort. This red circle sits atop the Chase Manhattan bank at 423 Canal Street. As with all efforts like this, we'll just have to wait and see who's behind it. Of course, it could just be someone's idea of art. Target?

'New York Magazine' Transit Campaign to Change Daily

New York Magazine has launched a transit poster campaign in five Manhattan subway stations in which the creative content of each poster will be changed daily to mirror current events. The campaign, created by Wieden & Kennedy and managed by Outdoor Vision, will launch Friday and continue through September 30.

Elegant Cane Yields to Crude Crotch

You have to wonder if this stately gentleman of circa 1800 and something would have ever envisioned an ad such as the one that appears over his shoulder. My, how times have changed. It makes you wonder if we've moved forward or backward.

Billboard Says @%#*$?! Gas Prices.

Leveraging frustration with rising gasoline prices, Dallas Area Rapid Transit (DART) has placed a billboard campaign anyone at the gas pump can identify with.

Bloomberg Censors Atari Game Promotion

Following criticism by Mayor Michael Bloomberg, his Office of City Affairs revoked a permit granted to Marc Ecko to host an August 24 "block party" to promote a new Atari game called, "Getting Up: Contents Under Pressure." The game features characters who graffiti a city in defiance of corrupt government officials. The event was to center around graffiti artists tagging models of old New York City blue-bird subway cars. When Bloomberg caught wind of the promotion, he said, "Look, there is a fine line here between freedom of expression and going out and encouraging people to hurt this city. Defacing subway cars is hardly a joke. Encouraging people, kids in particular, to do that after all the money we've spent, all the time we've spent removing graffiti."

Certainly, the city does not want to be bombarded with un-approved graffiti but here we have an event created specifically for the artistic expression of graffiti where nothing other than sponsor-paid props are being used as canvas for the artists. Not one bit of city landscape is involved. Sure, it's all about marketing a promoting a game that involves encouraging graffiti. But it's a game. Not real life. There's a difference. Atari and Mark Ecko have provided talented artists with a legal, sanctioned channel through which to create and celebrate graffiti as an art form. Is it really any different that Time Magazine's hiring of COPE2 to paint a sponsor-paid billboard? We think not.

Art seems to express itself whether it is given a canvas or not. In this case, the smart thing for Bloomberg to do, in the long run, is provide that canvas.

UPDATE: Marc Ecko has written an open letter explaining his position in the Comment section.