Sony PSP graffiti mars LA walls
p2p news / p2pnet: Having defecated all over its own doorstep with its rootkit DRM spyware, Sony is now plastering excreta on the walls of buildings in LA and elsewhere.
Or maybe it’s part of an Apple anti-PSP campaign? Who knows?
“Residents of Lincoln Heights Los Angeles are pissed about what they suspect is a corporate graffiti campaign sponsored by Sony to promote the PSP,” says popgadget. “Other flickr users claim to have spotted the same PSP-centric stencils in Silver Lake (LA) and San Francisco.”
It has a post from Lincoln Heights resident Michelle which says:
Is anyone else concerned that Sony Playstation paid someone to vandalize our neighborhood to sell their latest toy, the PSP? I called the city today to have the stencils on the back of Juan’s Market painted over. For some strange reason, I’d rather see my friendly local gang lay claim to that wall then have it given over to some crappy corporation and their urban marketing campaign.
The stencils are of these ugly cartoon with messed up eyes all holding PSPs. It’s quite obviously an advertisement, but when I called Playstation Consumer Services this morning, they claim to know nothing about the campaign.
I guess there’s just some clever youngster out here in LH that just really LOVES the PSP and wants the whole world to know about it…
Anyhow, if the “urban marketing” bugs you too, and you don’t want Playstation to set an example to other faceless corporations that take big consumer craps in our backyard, give them a call and ask them what their take on graffiti is:
Have you seen these in your neighborhood too?
Michelle goes on to provide the snail-mail addie for the Sony corporate offices.
Sony Computer Entertainment America
PO Box 5888
San Mateo, CA 94402-0888800-345-7669 (800-345-SONY)
The pic on the left is from !Habit Forming’s Fony Paystation flickr post here. The pic top right was shot in n Philidelphia, says the Wooster Collective. It, “shows a dude hired by Sony (or their ad agency). Using a set of prints that the company has sent him, he’s copying the images from the campaign onto the wall.”
Both sets of pix are linked to the popgadget story.
Also read:-
defecated – Sony knew about DRM spyware, November 30, 2005
popgadget – Sony PSP Corporate Graffiti, November 28, 2005
December 1st, 2005 at 5:03 pm
I like it. It’s a bit on the ‘in your face side’ a,d it is very weird, but if Sony did do it, it isn’t a bad idea actually in my opinion.
December 1st, 2005 at 8:21 pm
why isn’t it a bad idea?
what happens when they do it on the side of your house?
or on your garage?
or on your office where you work?
who pays for this to be cleaned up?
not sony im guessing
December 1st, 2005 at 11:13 pm
totally unacceptable… if it’s illegal for gang-bangers to spray everywhere, why is it not illegal for corporations to do it. I thought we were supposed to hold these large corporations to higher standards then this? I know it’ll probably be impossible to prove Sony was behind it, but no way some kid was so psyched about his PSP he just had to show the world.
December 2nd, 2005 at 1:40 am
Sony has been doing this crap since as early as Feb 2005.
From http://www.realitytvmagazine.com/blog/2005/02/donald_trump_sp.html
Donald Trump Sprays Graffiti to Promote a Video Game
Donald Trump enlists video game giant Sony Computer Entertainment America for one of the most colorful âApprenticeâ tasks this season (February 24, 9-10pm ET). Trump challenges the candidates to create a graffiti billboard promoting âGran Turismo⢠4, the fourth installment of the worldwide blockbuster-selling Gran Turismo series, available exclusively for the PlayStation®2 computer entertainment system.
More –
http://apprentice.tv.yahoo.com/03/theshow/tasks/episode6.html
December 2nd, 2005 at 3:39 pm
i don’t want that on my house and if it´s not legal to spray it everywhere they should have bought a wall to do it on, if they like to advertise like that.
December 2nd, 2005 at 5:22 pm
your’e completely right!! its not okay for a corporation to do this to public space but, you dont have gobs of cash like they do! And youre wrong to think that thi sis going on “undercover” like Sony is hiding their hand in this from their investors or somehting. THIS IS COMPLETELY LEGAL! People pay money fo this to happen. DISNEY, NIKE, SONY, etc…. they all do it.
Check out some of the viral marketing studios/firms in LA if you want this to go anywhere. Google virus, viral, street, marketing, etc…….
December 3rd, 2005 at 7:31 am
i work for the railroad and see stuff liek this all the time… i dont think theres any room for anyone to really say whether its bad or good… because personally most people dont really care unless it happens to there stuff and they jus wanna make a comment about how bad it is so they have a reason to complain
December 5th, 2005 at 10:15 pm
why dont u just leave sony the **** alone. WOW one graffiti sighting, u must have no life whats so ever to care.
December 9th, 2005 at 3:06 am
no, i think its corporate advertising. i really liked these little guys at first when they first started popping up in my north philadelphia neighborhood, but then when i went to nyc i saw the images papered up on old billboards, buildings… they arent so cute anymore. but def a clever ad campaign.
July 28th, 2009 at 11:08 pm
Well, to be perfectly honest, those cartoon characters aren’t exactly ugly. If you want ugly cartoons, check the saturday morning TV programming.