Sony Paid for Fake PSP Graffiti? 129
Eli Gottlieb writes "It would appear that the Sony Corporation (known for their world-class rootkits) paid graffitists to paint pictures of children using their new PSPs on city walls. Sony "artists" (corporate operatives?) have even been caught in the act of painting advertising campaigns on public walls. Note that these are not paid-for billboards or advertising media, but illegal graffiti in the first place. Beyond that, Sony is attempting to co-opt the subculture and possibly even artistic integrity of real graffists to sell more PSPs! Luckily, people have started to paint back and show that corporate vandals are not welcome." Though it does appear the vandal depicted is copying the image off of a sheet of paper, there's no real proof of Sony's complicity. Take with a grain of salt.
Sounds familiar... (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:Sounds familiar... (Score:5, Informative)
Re:Sounds familiar... (Score:5, Informative)
I'm so glad it was "biodegradable chalk".
Re:Sounds familiar... (Score:2, Offtopic)
Wow, those are some amazingly precise numbers there.
But then, given your user name, I suspect you've got a lot of experience in making up plausible-sounding numbers.
Re:Sounds familiar... (Score:2)
Additionally, The grafiti didn't really go away on it's own. The concrete sidewalks were redone during some road construction.
Re: (Score:2, Interesting)
Conclusive (Score:5, Interesting)
The idea that multiple graffiti artists in different locations simultaneously designed the same PSP using characters and then.... it's so laughable I can't even finish that sentence.
As long as these photographs are genuine, there is *no* way that this isn't centrally coordinated. I suppose it's possible some fanboys might have decided to promote the PSP this way, but it doesn't really seem like fanboy behaviour. It's too organized and the graphic design is too well done.
Nintendo occasionally gets that kind of grass-roots support, but only for their legendary characters, not for a current product shot. Two story Mario 1 mural, sure. Nintendo DS graffiti, no.
Re:Conclusive (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:Conclusive (Score:1)
Re:Conclusive (Score:1)
Re:I don't know...This seems too illegal... (Score:1)
http://www.wired.com/news/culture/0,1284,69741,00
Wonder if Sony will pay to clean up all the ad-jamming attempts as well?
Re:I don't know...This seems too illegal... (Score:2)
Repeat of the xbox launch? (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Repeat of the xbox launch? (Score:1)
I think the whole idea was to cause a huge fuss in the media, they got exactly what they wanted.
Some vandals are more equal than others... (Score:1, Insightful)
You mean "competing vandals have started to paint back", surely?
Or do you mean that vandalising is OK as long as it's not done for profit? If so, grow the fuck up.
There's a difference between Sony and stupid kids (Score:2)
No, it's not OK, but normally, illegal tags are created by bored (and possibly stupid) kids who mark their territories like dogs pissing on corners. What exactly is Sony's excuse for behaving like that?
Re:There's a difference between Sony and stupid ki (Score:2)
Maybe I was unclear (Score:2)
I know. I used to spray murals, too, a few years ago. I was talking about the tags (the smaller paintings which are usually done in one color and contain not a lot more than the name of the person doing it), not about murals. Even though I'll be the first to freely admit that painting murals - especially on private property - is really stupid (whether the one doing it is smart or not), and had I been caught, I sure as hell wouldn't have complained about it.
Sony's stupid little crappy pictures are clearly n
Re:Maybe I was unclear (Score:2)
The Sony ads are no different than a billboard. I would much rather look at the ads than a billboard though.
Not all of them (Score:2)
It's possible that Sony paid for some of them (but even that is disputed), but definitely not for all of them. Some of the pictures are clearly in public places which do not belong to any private entity.
Re:Not all of them (Score:2)
Re:Some vandals are more equal than others... (Score:1)
they're PEOPLE!
Re:Some vandals are more equal than others... (Score:1)
Jesus, that's the most pretentious description of vandalism I've ever seen. I have to wonder if you attended art school. You seem to have the chops.
Re:Some vandals are more equal than others... (Score:2)
P.S. I have never attended art school.
Double standards (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:Double standards (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Double standards (Score:2)
The IBM graffiti may have been chalk-based but they sure as hell didn't wash off after one rain. The Boston-area ones were around for at least 18 months, in a city with no shortage of rain and snow.
Re:Double standards (Score:2)
Look for the next story about it. They didn't wash off. You had to scrub like hell, and if you didn't they stayed untill they wore off. They were intended to come right off, but they blew it.
Re:Double standards (Score:2, Interesting)
Re:Double standards (Score:1)
Re:Double standards (Score:1)
Re:Double standards (Score:3, Informative)
I still see some of the IBM linux graffiti here in Chicago. The rain and snow that it's experienced in the last 4 years doesn't seem to have washed it of
Re:Double standards (Score:2)
It's a balance of who, what, and why. Some 15 year old punk doesn't get up from a bus seat to let an 80 year old invalid sit down, most people would find that rude. Rosa Parks doesn't get up from a bus seat...
Re:Double standards (Score:2)
Re:Double standards (Score:2)
Re:Double standards (Score:2)
Re:Double standards (Score:1)
Re:Double standards (Score:1, Troll)
Re:Double standards (Score:1)
Re:Double standards (Score:2)
Re:Double standards (Score:2)
Like MSN in 2002 (Score:5, Informative)
Re:Like MSN in 2002 (Score:2)
Corporate vandalism is already rife (Score:2)
Here's one such story with an Iron Maiden poster
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/london/ 4376267.stm [bbc.co.uk]
The big record companies pay organised criminal gangs to ruin our streets and then WE have to pay to have it cleared up.
Makes me sick
Re:Corporate vandalism is already rife (Score:2)
Frankly I do think Sony needs some BIG fines for this. But if Greenpeace did the same thing I would want them fined as well. Freedom of speech doesn't mean the freedom to deface anyone's property even the public's.
Re:Corporate vandalism is already rife (Score:1)
Sony's complete apathy (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:Sony's complete apathy (Score:2)
Pray tell, what illegal strategies has Nintendo employed to keep its dominant market position and keep competition out? In the handheld market, they're not keeping the competition out, they simply make a better machine and Sony screws up all by itself.
Yes, it very much *is* Sony's fault. (Score:2)
Um, yeah. It's very much Sony's fault for creating and distributing this software. Most people don't read these EULAs, and no normal person expects a rootkit to be installed when they're simply trying to listen to music. Sony knew exactly what would happen to its users (to the very people who gave Sony money, nota bene!), and they went ahead
Re:Yes, it very much *is* Sony's fault. (Score:1)
I'm surprised there's any doubt... (Score:4, Insightful)
Then again, given the lack of decent games and homebrew on the PSP I'm sure these guys have plenty of spare time to use in trekking across the country shilling for Sony.
Interesting (Score:2)
I wouldn't be surprised if this was true though. The PSP marketing blitz hasn't done them much good, so I guess they're thinking a grass-roots / subliminal campaign might be a better option than in your face advertising.
Luckily, indeed... (Score:4, Insightful)
No offense, assholes, but your vandalism is unwelcome, corporate or otherwise.
Re:Luckily, indeed... (Score:1)
Re:Luckily, indeed... (Score:2)
Of course... (Score:2, Interesting)
Oh, I also work for Sony. But I didn't spraypaint anything
Re:Of course... (Score:1)
Re:Of course... (Score:2)
Apprentice (Score:3, Informative)
What if Microsoft did this? (Score:2, Interesting)
Look carefully at the pictures. They do not depict the PSP in a positive light. The PSP is like a toy to the children. And in each picture, the children are not even looking at their PSP. Their gaze is elseware as if they were hypnotized. The swirl look in their eyes resembles the Microsoft 360 logo.
These pictures appeared in the major Xbox 360 launch cities of Chi
Well... (Score:2)
I saw some last night... (Score:2)
Three chracters using a psp with different thinks like licking a psp on a stick or using is at a paddle ball.
I thought perhaps the artist was just being over zealous over a pop statement about his personal psp and his friends, but perhaps it was one of these paid adds.
Correct terms (Score:1, Informative)
and tons of graf is done on completely legal surfaces. I think people are getting pissed and always do when corporations use invasive advertising. Graffiti artists are trying to create art and a statement against corporations, and when they turn around and use it against them it's like a slap in the face. There is a code and many kids (and I use kids b/c your 26 yr old graf artist isn't doing it) don't follow it.. don't paint on priva
Re:Correct terms (Score:1)
That's my opinion, you have yours. Both opinions are irrelevant.
It's not your stuff. Stop fucking painting shit on it.
Re:Correct terms (Score:2)
Re:Correct terms (Score:2)
Re:Correct terms (Score:2)
Re:Correct terms (Score:2)
Graffiti artists = vandals (Score:1)
Re:Graffiti artists = vandals (Score:1)
Re:Graffiti artists = vandals (Score:1)
Re:Graffiti artists = vandals (Score:2)
It's not yours so you are not allowed to change it (Score:1)
If it's not yours you are not allowed to change it! There are no two ways around it.
Martin
It's not yours so you are not allowed to change it (Score:1)
Unless you ask the onwer for permissing you won't know his planns for the wall.
Martin
I would like that very much! (Score:2)
I would like that very much. When are you free?
any publicity... (Score:1)
Sony is good at generating bad publicity, and percieving that as good PR.
If you live in a city with a sony office (Score:2)
rofl (Score:1)
ha ha ha ha. I can't get enough :)
I like the look of the art. (Score:2)
Personally it wont sway my choice of handheld game device, but it's interesting to see a corp take this kind of risk. Can't the city sue them?
Re:Hilarious! (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:Hilarious! (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:Hilarious! (Score:1)
Or maybe they don't have the integrity they claim they do and it's the commercial act rather than the illegal one that they feel affects them.
Re:Hilarious! (Score:1)
Re:Hilarious! (Score:2)
Re:Hilarious! (Score:1)
Re:Hilarious! (Score:2)
Which prompts the new question: If they're not vandalizing, what's the big deal?
Re:Hilarious! (Score:1)
Re:Hilarious! (Score:1)
Re:Hilarious! (Score:1)
Re:Hilarious! (Score:1)
Re:Hilarious! (Score:1)
Re:complete crap (Score:1)
Re:complete crap (Score:1)
Re:complete crap (Score:1)
According to the article:
-The drawings are ads, not anti-Sony art.
-Tats Cru is in fact responsible for the ads on the East Coast, but they were hired by Sony to paint them.
-Tats Cru obtained the permission of the store owners before painting the ads.
This doesn't explain the ads in Chicago, Los Angeles, or San Francisco, so it's likely that Sony hired other local artists in those areas. It sounds like the whole setup i
Re:complete crap (Score:1)
your posts:complete crap (Score:1)
I could try and translate what you have wrote into something more legible if you'd like.
Re:your posts:complete crap (Score:1)
Re:your posts:complete crap (Score:1)
Re:complete crap (Score:1)
It's unlikely that a New York-based team would organize an effort to draw identical graffiti all over the nation. If they were really trying to make a point, surely they would have been creative enough to come up with more than three or four drawings. It's far more plausible for a company with a worldwide scope to organize such an event, and the characters seem to fit i
Re:So it's true ... (Score:2)
Talk about a double standard.