Microsoft Vandalizes NYC 752
Brooklyn Bob writes "The New York Times (free registration etc.) is reporting that New York Tells Microsoft to Get Its Butterfly Decals Out of Town. Sure, it's "corporate graffiti", but the butterfly looks pretty good on the subway entrance." The story only covers a small part of their efforts to promote MSN, the "Microsoft operating system required" internet service. The first submission we got about the campaign described another part of it: Latent IT writes "I wish I had a link to submit with this, but strange things are afoot in New York City. At 61st and Broadway, 30-40 guys and gals in butterfly suits colored in the Microsoft colors, and carrying MSN banners just rollerbladed by, screaming at the top of their lungs down the middle of Broadway. Interestingly enough, this took them right near the under construction AOL Time Warner building. It seemed worth jotting down, but they were literally gone and down the street before I could reach my digital camera. (Place all bug on windshield jokes here.)"
Re:And yet it's ok for IBM and Linux? (Score:5, Informative)
IBM caught tagging San Fran streets with Linux ads [theregister.co.uk]
Re:And yet it's ok for IBM and Linux? (Score:2, Informative)
No Registration Link (Score:5, Informative)
Why these people dont post the no registration required links [nytimes.com] provided by Google news [google.com] I don't know
Sounds like the Ad agency's fault from the article (Score:3, Informative)
After a brief huddle with two people whom she identified as being from McCann-Erickson, the advertising firm handling the account, Ms. Lacter said: "There's nothing else to say. They didn't want to get into a discussion about the details."
So it might not be MS's directive, but the PR/Ad agency screwing it up. Though *that's* a bit difficult to swallow that they didn't know you could get away with that. Probably more of a 'hey this will get *great* pr, be on the news for shaking up NYC, and we'll pay some crappy little fine at best (or offer MS XP to schools at a discount and thereby intrenching themselves more
courtesy of the NYTimes fake login generator (Score:4, Informative)
By DAVID W. DUNLAP
Two days after city inspectors ripped up illegal Nike advertising decals glued to sidewalks along Central Park West, Microsoft unleashed a swarm of large adhesive butterflies in Manhattan.
They settled yesterday morning on sidewalks and doorways; traffic signals, stop signs and planters. They alighted on the bluestone paving around Grand Army Plaza and the granite corners around Grand Central Terminal.
Their blue, green, orange and yellow wings had spans of 12 to 20 inches, the larger ones accompanied by a caption -- "It's better with the Butterfly" -- advertising Microsoft's new MSN 8 Internet service.
"This is nothing more than corporate graffiti," said Vanessa Gruen, director of special projects for the Municipal Art Society, a civic organization that has long battled commercialization of public space. "It's no better than all those kids out there tagging subway cars."
And no more legal, city officials said.
"We intend to hold your firm directly responsible for this illegal, irresponsible and dangerous defacing of public property," wrote Cesar A. Fernandez, assistant counsel of the Transportation Department, in a letter sent yesterday to the Microsoft Corporation.
His letter instructed Microsoft to remove the decals from city property immediately and warned that further placement might lead to "legal proceedings which may include, but not be limited to, a request for injunctive relief and additional monetary damages; and criminal prosecution."
"I trust and hope that these offensive activities are not the authorized acts of your organization's employees and agents," Mr. Fernandez wrote, requesting a reply from Microsoft with assurances that its promotional staff and agents would be directed "to avoid such illegal conduct."
A single summons was issued, with a $50 penalty, though each butterfly could have been subject to a $50 fine, said Tom Cocola, the assistant commissioner for public affairs at the transportation agency. He said the city's chief goal was seeing to it that the decals are removed.
Microsoft, for its part, insisted that it was authorized to place the decals.
"There are permits for everything," said Colleen Lacter of Waggener Edstrom, a public relations firm representing Microsoft, emerging from a tent at Wollman Rink in Central Park after an MSN 8 promotional event.
"This is not a repeat of Nike," she added. But she would not tell a reporter what agency had issued the permits. After a brief huddle with two people whom she identified as being from McCann-Erickson, the advertising firm handling the account, Ms. Lacter said: "There's nothing else to say. They didn't want to get into a discussion about the details."
The law, Section 19-138 of the New York City administrative code, states: "It shall be unlawful for any person to deface any street by painting, printing or writing thereon, or attaching thereto, in any manner, any advertisement or other printed matter."
The butterflies found on vertical surfaces were made of flimsy plastic, held in place by static electricity and easily removable. The sidewalk decals were a heavier plastic, with a roughly textured surface. Though they were stuck to the pavement, they too could be lifted off fairly easily.
And that is what the Grand Central Partnership set out to do yesterday afternoon as it confronted butterfly decals on some of the special pink granite sidewalks it has installed at 172 intersections from Fifth to Second Avenues, 38th to 48th Streets. These include curb cuts for the disabled.
"Anything that impairs the ability of someone to move on those accessible corners is a concern," said Marc A. Wurzel, general counsel to the partnership, which runs the business improvement district. "It's a unique form of guerrilla advertising."
In a state of some astonishment, Ms. Gruen took in the scene outside the Municipal Art Society office at the Villard Houses, Madison Avenue and 51st Street. There were butterflies on building facades, a telephone booth and a Grand Central Partnership newspaper vending machine.
"It's illegal," she said, "and they're going to get a lot of publicity for it."
That may have been the point. "It's a tremendous opportunity," Ms. Lacter said, "for us to build brand awareness."
No registration required here (Score:1, Informative)
NYT without the registration [nytimes.com]
posted anonymously so i don't look like a karma whore.
Re:Vandalizes? (Score:2, Informative)
Did you read the article? hmm??
Re:You think they would've learned (Score:4, Informative)
Re:You are the mouthpiece for MSN... (Score:1, Informative)
They must have caught and changed it because less than ten minutes later, it's spelled correctly.
Re:You think they would've learned (Score:4, Informative)
Re:Great Performance Art, I guess (Score:3, Informative)
MS, fast on the heels of just about every major reviewer decalring MSN 8 superior to AOL 8, has just sent the average person a a message that there is another Internet besides AOL. I've never used either AOL or MSN, and have no love for either parent organization, but I see this as a brilliant publicity stunt by MS, no question.
The "average person on SlashDot," who has got his toaster oven connected to a Cisco router and is using it to hack into the SETI distribution, is neither the intended customer for the service nor the intended audience for the stunt.
Re:You think they would've learned (Score:2, Informative)
Re:Spraychalked? (Score:3, Informative)
http://www.internetnews.com/IAR/article.php/754
perhaps the local advertising folks screwed up, or perhaps ibm is blaming them to cover their asses.
personally i dont appreciate either technique. i'm sick of seeing advertising everywhere i go-even if it is for linux. i would like to step outside and not see anything being advertised, but that is just me.
Not for long (Score:3, Informative)
Not for long [macnn.com]
Re:Is this wierd?? (Score:2, Informative)
Microsoft OS *NOT* required (Score:3, Informative)
Re:MSN 8 vs. .mac (Score:2, Informative)
Yes it does.
They implemented some new AI technology form MS Research to figure out what is spam.
Since junk mail for some people might not be junk mail for others the programs learns your preferences and adjusts itself as you keep using it.
Here's a Link (Score:4, Informative)
Can anyone imagine that there is still a market for people who need their hands held as they walk along the Information Superhighway? Nonetheless, I have GOT to get a clip of Billy G. in the reported "Butterfly Suit."
Re:You think they would've learned (Score:4, Informative)
These stickers and such are nothing compared to the IBM/Linux spray ads.
Re:photos? (Score:5, Informative)
Re:Better wheelchairs needed (Score:3, Informative)
But this is a wild stab at rational, the stickers may be non-trivially thin, or there could be other reasons. The point is when certain areas are engineered for accessability, people shouldn't mess with them, and it is even more unacceptable for a company to be this irresponsible. They don't find it acceptable for people to do spraypainting, SF fined IBM for the peace, love, linux grafitti, and even with all these precedents, MS goes out and marks everything in sight.... AOL carpetbombs the US with CDs, now MS bombards the US with butterflies (since MSN ships with Windows already, a CD is rather pointless).
I use MSN and I have Linux (Score:2, Informative)
Am I just lucky?
Creative 'modifications'/'defacement' of the ads? (Score:3, Informative)
I'm curious how people will 'creative modify' the Microsoft ads. Any pictures?
We get these annoying sidewalk decals in San Francisco all the time. Usually they're on private property, but too often they're on the public sidewalk in hard-to-ignore locations.
The most annoying ads are in the public train stations. The ads are usually placed at the top or bottom of the staircases (and in some cases, ON the staircases), or in some other location that is hard to ignore. For example, imagine a group of people travelling down in an escalator. Where are people looking? 95% of the people will looking at the base of the escalator at some point. So, the clever ad companies place these annoying ads at the base of the escalator, where it's almost impossible to ignore them.
This is why that whenever I pass one of these sidewalk stickers on public areas, I always make sure to take an extra few seconds to discretely lift up one of the corners of the sticker-ad with the sole of my shoe. The stickers are usually made of a heavy plastic, and it's difficult to tear them up without a sharp object.
As large groups of people pass through the train station and walk over the sticker, some individuals will eventually step on the torn up corner, and the advertisement will become even more torn up over time. Many people hate the ads as much as I do, and will also make an effort to kick up the sticker a little bit more. As the advertisement comes off the sidewalk, it becomes uglier and dirtier, wish tarnishes the image that the advertiser is trying to promote.
Not the first time they've done this (Score:2, Informative)