Mega ad agency BBDO (West) just did an anti-graffiti project, pro-bono, to support the San Francisco Mayor's graffiti abatement campaign.
Marketing wise, the ads are way to unrealistic and heavy handed to really make any impact. Equating interior private space to outdoor public space is comparing apples to orange juice and too obnoxious of a starting point for debate. Not to mention, the graffiti in the house actually looks kind of interesting, a cool mix of and high and low culture. This could totally be in an avant garde beach house in West Hampton.
But the real comedy is what does this mean for BBDO's Romanian division, Graffiti/BBDO. Yes that's their actual name. And graffiti pretty much means the same thing in Romania as it does in San Francisco.
Equally ironic, is the high probability that some of the art directors and even more of the designers over there in BBDO West are surely messing with spraypaint, markers or printing posters (for wheatpasting) with the company's fiery printers when their not designing power point decks or mocking up logo scapes for clients.
So moral of the story is, its ok to use graffiti for street cred, to give an agency some edge, or to brand a European division, but otherwise its a scourge.
BBDO West Launches Anti-Graffiti, Zoo Pro-Bono Work Adrants
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