The California Milk Processor Board is looking for a town
willing to rename itself “Got Milk?”
What’s going on here? A phenomenon called “ad
creep” is sweeping the nation; IBM has hired graffiti artists
to launch a guerrilla marketing campaign on the sidewalks of
Chicago. The Oakland Coliseum became the Network Associates
Coliseum. Our public spaces are becoming commercially colonized,
and no one seems to care. Spaces that previously were out of bounds
to advertisements are now considered fair game.
This encroachment of commercialism into public spaces needs to
stop, or soon we may even have ads in such sacred places as
urinals. Oh wait. that’s already happened. Clearly ad creep
is in an advanced stage of development, and corporations have done
an excellent job of desensitizing the public to this grotesque
practice.
When 3Com bought the naming rights to Candlestick Park in 1995,
there was a great brouhaha. A city-owned sports stadium with a
corporate name? Who had ever heard of that? Now, Americans
don’t even think twice about corporations naming
publicly-owned stadiums.
Fresh from their easy success with commercializing stadiums,
corporations planned their next attack, literally. Companies such
as Snapple, IBM, Nike and Microsoft planned and carried out covert
guerrilla ad campaigns on public sidewalks. Billboards and
magazines are so passé. Sidewalks are the next frontier in the
advertising war.
Last year, IBM hired graffiti artists to spray-paint the
“Peace, Love and Linux” logo on sidewalks in order to
promote the Linux operating system which it supports. In San
Francisco and Chicago, hundreds of blue and black peace signs,
hearts, and penguins (the Linux symbol) appeared mysteriously on
city streets overnight.
Most cities attacked by these guerrilla campaigns are treating
the culprits like preschoolers who went overboard with their
finger-paint. In Chicago, the police actually caught one of these
corporate commandos in the act. Was he treated just like any other
graffiti vandal with heavy fines or jail time? No, of course not.
He received 30 days of community service.
Just last month, Microsoft plastered city sidewalks and streets
in New York with hundreds of butterfly-shaped decals advertising
its new internet service, MSN 8. In response to this visual
nightmare, the city of New York immediately slapped Microsoft with
a fine that would surely teach Bill Gates a lesson: $50.
Why do corporations continue their guerrilla ad campaigns even
though they are illegal? The answer is simple: The profits
generated from “cutting-edge” sidewalk ads vastly
outweigh potential vandalism fines.
Surprisingly, many cities actually welcome ad creep with open
arms. More than 20 cities have signed contracts to buy police cars
for $1 each from corporate sponsors in return for allowing
NASCAR-style advertisement on the outside of the cars. Will anyone
really give police officers respect when a police car pulls up
covered with Dunkin’ Donuts and Jenny Craig ads? Kent
Allison, a partner with Government Acquisitions LLC, the firm
pushing the ad proposal, says the company will solicit ads from
“even the local bail bondsman.” If that doesn’t
present a conflict of interest, I don’t know what does.
The CMPB has truly crossed the line in issuing a general
invitation to small towns across California proposing that they
change their name to “Got Milk?” in return for
undisclosed compensation. The city of Biggs reviewed the proposal
at length before refusing it Wednesday morning.
Perhaps it’s a good thing Biggs didn’t look to the
citizens of Half.com, Oregon. They received 22 computers, $75,000
for civic improvements, and “a prize to be raffled at the
county fair” in exchange for changing the city’s name
from Halfway to Half.com.
Even UCLA has its very own example of ad creep. In 1998, the
UCLA Children’s Hospital became the Mattel Children’s
Hospital after the toy company made a donation to the replacement
hospital project. As generous as the $25 million donation was, why
did UCLA feel the need to name the hospital after Mattel if the
true intention was just to help children? What’s next, K-Y
Jelly Student Health Center?
Advertising in the public sphere presents many ethical and
aesthetic dilemmas. Ad creep needs to go. Do you really want to fly
into the airport one day only to hear the captain announce that you
will be landing shortly at ex-LAX?
Hansen usually runs every Tuesday.