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MLSE paints illegal sidewalk ads

ShonTron

ShonTron

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Over at Spacing, I wrote about illegal MLSE ads painted on the sidewalk using stencils.

I found these ads rather annoying. Not only are they illegal, they feature the "Leafs Nation" marketing campaign, and have that wonderful new slogan "Spirit is Everything". (Because winning certainly isn't).

It's not like ML$E can't afford conventional ads.

4023561399_29d77a7489.jpg


http://spacing.ca/wire/2009/10/19/ad-creep-spirit-is-everything/
 
Crap team, inflated prices, monopolistic practices, and now obnoxious and illegal vandalism (er, marketing). They're the complete package of assholeism, aren't they?

Can't wait to see those pics come in of peoples' dogs taking a dump on these tags...er, ads...
 
MLSE aside, I'm all for initiative and a diversity of interests promoting their agendas; however, personally I find the campaign against "illegal" advertising very strange and somewhat inconsistent when the same interests also promote graffiti and individual expressions of self-promotion that are also "illegal".
 
^ And Spacing has always had a *huge* blind spot for postering, which in my mind is a truly noxious form of public space degradation. When 99% of the posters I see out there are commercial in nature and Spacing is either neutral or supportive of the practice, then their stance against MLSE's stunt becomes hypocritical and self-serving, but I'll save that for another rant.
 
Ah, Fiendish, I'm totally against illegal postering as well - the ads and the wheatpaste are an eyesore - and just as bad, if not worse, is the plastic ads stuck to poles (like junk removal, roofing, painting) and the endless flyers on bus shelters for quickie divorces and driving schools.

Spacing, of whom I'm a regular contributor (mostly suburban and transit issues), is a diverse group of people. And I haven't seen much in the way of postering defence - you might be thinking of the Toronto Public Space Committee, a different beast.
 
unimaginative2 said:
Never mind the ad--just look at that sidewalk. I don't think anything you could spray paint on there could make it any worse.
Click to expand...

Bang on.

Where's the incentive to keep our sidewalks free and clean of ads when they are endlessly tagged, dug up and poorly patched by utilities over and over and over. And when they're done, they tag them again for future reference. I see Yonge Street sidewalks are being dug up AGAIN this week, BOTH south of Dundas and north of Wellesley. This sidewalk has not been free of giant block long asphalt filled and pothole ridden utility cuts since I moved to Toronto four years ago.
 
Jonny5 said:
Bang on.

Where's the incentive to keep our sidewalks free and clean of ads when they are endlessly tagged, dug up and poorly patched by utilities over and over and over. And when they're done, they tag them again for future reference. I see Yonge Street sidewalks are being dug up AGAIN this week, BOTH south of Dundas and north of Wellesley. This sidewalk has not been free of giant block long asphalt filled and pothole ridden utility cuts since I moved to Toronto four years ago.
Click to expand...

Well I am happy to report that the sidewalks on Yonge south of Dundas are being dug up to be *gasp* replaced! Yes, clean smooth utility cut free sidewalks will soon grace Yonge Street. At least here. New gas line installation continues north of Wellesley today, carving up more sidewalks.
 
The ads have been spotted at Bathurst and College (where the sidewalks are in good condition), King and Dufferin, amongst other places.

They have lasted too long to be chalk.
 
There's a few painted sidewalk ads still remaining from Pride in the Church-Wellesley Village, only much larger. What a sleazy practice.
 
Spacing does NOT have a blind spot for postering. Its 100% legal if its done within the rules. I think there are tonnes of crappy postering going on and most of it is illegal (too big, too many on a poll, etc). The city has a way to deal with this, the same way they do with graffiti, which this MLSE ad is. The Leafs have the money to pay for ads and don't need to go out and spray paint our sidewalks. If it was around the ACC it may be much more acceptable, but they are everywhere.

Its much different when a stupid teenager paints his tag on a sidewalk then when a "respected" corporate citizen with a billion dollar yearly revenue goes out and does it.
 
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