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.)"
You think they would've learned (Score:4, Insightful)
Learned what? (Score:5, Insightful)
Now some Jail time would be welcome
Re:Learned what? (Score:5, Insightful)
There's no such thing as bad publicity. Even if they get a lot of bad press, there will still be a lot of pictures circulated with the butterfly and its association with microsoft.
Re:Learned what? (Score:3, Funny)
Re:Learned what? (Score:5, Funny)
I imagine that's gonna bankrupt Microsoft almost as badly as buying X-boxes from them will!
Re:You think they would've learned (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:You think they would've learned (Score:5, Insightful)
The microsoft signs are made with appliqués that are just stuck to walls by static electricity. The ones on sidewalks are can be peeled off. This creates undue waste and probably could create hazards for people who try to nagivate over the sidewalk appliqués in wheelchairs. I expect the people in butterfly suits create an annoyance for all.
The linux campaign was done with biodegradable chalk. Big difference. No harmful waste. Less hazard for transportation, although some say that chalk makes rodes more slippery. And as far as I know, they didn't have people in Tux suits swarming around and creating more distractions.
Both of them create visual distractions and probably shouldn't have been attempted in the first place without authorisation from the city. But the IBM campaign was definitely better thought out than this microsoft one.
Re:You think they would've learned (Score:4, Informative)
These stickers and such are nothing compared to the IBM/Linux spray ads.
Re:You think they would've learned (Score:4, Informative)
Re:You think they would've learned (Score:5, Insightful)
The short story is that IBM got caught spraypainting / chalking Tux and the caption "Peace, Love, and Linux" on the sidewalks of numerous street corners all over the city. They claimed it was "biodegradable", if not "easily water soluble" chalk, and were banking on it disappearing the next time it rained. It didn't. The article doesn't mention whether it eventually did wash off, after several rains (think back to college days - did that chalk only last one rainfall?), or whether they had to break down and have it removed first.
I have a picture of one of the MSN butterflies applied to the 7th Avenue Station sign, but I don't know where to post it. You'd say it was quite tasteful if you saw it. It looks like part of the sign. I hear a lot of arguments about why MS's campaign is evil, whereas IBM's was just and righteous. I'm going to play Devil's Advocate for a minute here, since no one else seems to want to.
I don't want to hear anyone in this country say that the reason MS's campaign is evil is because they create waste. I'm not saying they don't, but is that the reason that you think fast-food, snail-mail solicitations from charitable organizations, and buying soda is evil? Let's be honest about how much waste we all generate, whether or not we're tacking up little butterflies to subway stations...
And the rollerbladers are evil, not because they are generating waste, but because they're a "distraction". A pedestrian might walk into an open manhole because they were too distracted by the butterfly men. Uh huh. MS has pretty deep pockets. Let the frivolous lawsuits begin. If you can squeeze any money out of their lawyers, you've earned it.
What's that leave? Evil because they're advertising for MSN 8, instead of a righteous cause such as Linux, therefore anything they do, regardless of eco-friendliness and distractive potential is Evil? I don't think a rational argument can be made for or against that, so I don't want to debate it.
MS is evil, because IBM did it first. Hate to disappoint, but IBM did not invent the concept of publicity stunt. I have no idea how far back it goes, but in modern times I've got a reference here for 1917 before the original release of the first Tarzan movie. Harry Reichenbach was hired to promote it, so he anonymously let loose an oranguatan dressed in a tuxedo inside a fancy hotel filled with New York elite. The newspapers had a field day, and a few days later, Reichenbach called to let them know that it had been a stunt for Tarzan, so they covered it again, this time letting everyone know it had been for the movie. Tarzan made a killing at the box-office.
As far as I'm concerned, every publicity stunt since then has been Evil. Evil! (whoops, I think I lost my serious edge. Anyway, my source on the Tarzan story is Uncle John's Biggest Ever Bathroom Reader, from the scholarly "Bathroom Reader's Institute" [bathroomreader.com], which is an absolute crack-pipe for trivia junkies like myself.)
You may now resume the one-sided witchhunt. =)
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.
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."
Re:courtesy of the NYTimes fake login generator (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:You think they would've learned (Score:4, Insightful)
IBM's campaign was all spraypaint on sidewalks.
Microsoft was at least smart enough to use easily removable static stickers and such.
That way they won't be responsible for thousands of dollars worth of cleanup.
Re:You think they would've learned (Score:4, Informative)
Yeah but at least tux is cool (Score:5, Insightful)
Yeah, but tux is cool. Also, the graffiti was in black (against white concrete), not candy colored.
Most importantly, perhaps, IBM did it first. When they did it it was an original, innovative idea. Microsoft's gaudy re-run is simply so much tasteless, derivative kitch.
It is one thing to do something radical first, and to do it with a little style. It is another thing to copycat with little imaginatino and no style (a garish, gay butterfly logo no less). Promoting a network service even AOLers are smart enough to avoid doesn't help either.
Re:Yeah but at least tux is cool (Score:5, Funny)
Ripping off other's clever ideas is what MicroSoft is all about. Hence their "switch" ad written by a golem.
And it's common wisdom in the low end advertizing business that annoying sells. Just look at used car ads on the radio. When you're selling a online service to idiots who don't value their rights, yelling "ME TOO!" as loud as you can is probably an effective strategy.
Re:Yeah but at least tux is cool (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Yeah but at least tux is cool (Score:4, Funny)
Of course we like Linux too, but Tux as a logo is pure genius - who can resist asking what the cute penguin is?
Vandalizes? (Score:4, Interesting)
Re:Vandalizes? (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Vandalizes? (Score:3, Interesting)
Wrong! I work near Madison Ave. Yesterday morning and this morning I watched building supers scraping off the stupid butterflies off their buildings. The stickers are on the sidewalks as well and they have that slick coating. I am just waiting for an old lady to face plant right into traffic. You are not going to get a city employee to scrape them up -- they have better unions than the building supers.
This is just as annoying as IBM's stupid "Peace, Love and Linux" campaign of last year where the stickered everything and spray painted their logo at every street corner.
Re:Vandalizes? (Score:3, Insightful)
equally offensive.
Re:Vandalizes? (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Vandalizes? (Score:5, Funny)
Legal or not, you should never fire a paintball gun at someone not playing paintball.
That's what real guns are for
Re:Vandalizes? (Score:5, Funny)
What were they screaming? (Score:5, Funny)
Give it up for us! Whoooooo hooooo!
Re:What were they screaming? (Score:5, Funny)
Yeah, I know...bad taste. I beg your pardon, Mr. Sensitivity.
Re:What were they screaming? (Score:5, Funny)
*thinking where are the terrorists when you need them
Ok, this may be even worse than the bit about the snipers, but you have to admit it would be pretty cool to take out a bunch of annyoing butterflies with something as useless as AOL/Time Warner! It is what I call two butterflies with one stone (*ohh
Re:What were they screaming? (Score:5, Funny)
Developers!
Developers!
What Else?
Re:What were they screaming? (Score:5, Funny)
I just got a mental image of a big fat bald butterfly, sweating profusely surrounded by medics on a street corner.
Thanks gaudior, very VERY funny!
Re:What were they screaming? (Score:5, Funny)
Re:What were they screaming? (Score:5, Funny)
Does that really work? (Score:5, Insightful)
The other half are probably contemplating some way to steal those outfits for Halloween.
Re:Does that really work? (Score:5, Insightful)
You answered your own question.
Imagine how many people are discussing it at work in NYC.
Ever do that for a commerical? Maybe for a superbowl commerical, but thats it. This is wonderful advertising, because it sticks in everyone's mind. Its all about exposure.
Re:Does that really work? (Score:5, Interesting)
When E3 moved back to LA 3 years later MS did it again. Instead of buying over-priced banner space in the lobbys of the convention center or billboards outside the purchased the fronts of all of the stairs in the convention center. Not the treads, the fronts. Each stair front had a strip vinyl aplique on it. Up close it just looked like...well, nothing. But, when you stood back and looked at the entire stairway (as you would when you're walking up to it), a gigantic advertisement would be visible. Again, MS got it on the cheap. Now I'm sure every convention center in the country charges a nice premium for those spaces.
Re:Does that really work? (Score:5, Funny)
Look at all of the free press they are getting. Slashdot just put it on there front page insuring that even the most staunch MS hater now knows MSN 8 is out. NY Times it carrying it ensuring the "average Joe" now knows about it. Finally all of the sites which feed off Slash have it on their front pages. So basically if your on the internet today you there is a good chance you NOW know MSN 8 just launched. Hurray more money and free advertising for MS!
BTW MSN 8 just launched.
Re:Does that really work? (Score:3, Funny)
Re:Does that really work? (Score:3, Interesting)
And MS and Disney are the partners in the deal. I think this is a good indication of Microsoft's future strategy's, especially if they really go through with Palladium.
Re:Does that really work? (Score:5, Insightful)
MSJackass? (Score:4, Funny)
Re:MSJackass? (Score:5, Funny)
Please, at least show Mr. Ballmer the courtesy of using his real name.
I'm Sold! (Score:3, Funny)
What a fantastically compelling ad campaign! I'll take two of whatever it is they are selling.
Beat y'all to it. :) (Score:5, Interesting)
Triv
Steve Balmer (Score:5, Funny)
*cringe*
Re:Steve Balmer (Score:5, Funny)
Just a mild correction there to make your nightmares more realistic.
Triv
MSN 8? (Score:4, Interesting)
Re:MSN 8? (Score:5, Funny)
Re:MSN 8? (Score:5, Insightful)
Mind you, after the browser wars, which completely broke how version numbering should effectively be done, this is probably no longer true. Version numbering has lost out to commercialization; there's a lot of good examples of where software changes over a 'major' version number could really be classified as 'minor' version changes, at least to some people (photoshop, IE, to name a few), but marketing knows that customers are more likely to purchase an upgrade if its from "x.0" to "x+1.0", as oppsed to "x.0" to "x.1". Additionally, there's been a few hokey version jumps in some programs as to keep them on par with a competitors program (as the parent post alludes to) - just as AMD is trying to keep up with the Megahertz Myth with Intel in naming their new chips.
Re:MSN 8? (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:MSN 8? (Score:4, Funny)
Now all we need is Netscape... (Score:5, Funny)
Great Performance Art, I guess (Score:4, Insightful)
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.
So I'm having a bad day (Score:4, Funny)
Courts are the better marketing agencies (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:Courts (MS should know) (Score:3, Interesting)
Or monopolistic practices? Or railed on by the U.S. Department of Justice, or a group of U.S. States? When you have some of the deepest pockets around, I guess you don't really care. It would be the same as someone suing me for pocket lint.
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
Re:No Registration Link (Score:3, Insightful)
No, it's the principal of the thing. Why does /. not allow posting of articles from sites that require registrations to view the articles EXCEPT New York Times? THey say they are protesting the need for registrations, yet they make an exception for them why? It is so hypocritcal. Just like most of the other stuff that goes on around here.
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
what I don't get (Score:5, Funny)
Can't Microsoft do anything original?!!! (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Can't Microsoft do anything original?!!! (Score:4, Funny)
They need a punching (Score:5, Funny)
I would love to see an equivalent number of guys in penguin suits go beat them up. I'd pay good money to see that.
Re:They need a punching (Score:4, Funny)
Re:They need a punching (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:They need a punching (Score:5, Funny)
it draws women like you wouldn't believe. shame I don't have any photos of when we headed out to this club in baltimore. best $ I ever spent, for sure.
They've done this before, and should know better (Score:5, Interesting)
When the Xbox launched here in Australia, Microsoft spent obscene amounts of money on the advertising campaign (it actually began a few months prior to launch). Part of this was to spraypaint the green Xbox X on the sidewalk at pretty much every bus stop in central Sydney. Needless to say, the relevent local councils were not amused.
As far as I know, the responsible parties were ordered by the court to pay for council workers to clean every single spray. However, Microsoft is nothing if not careful, and instead of doing the original grafitti themselves, they'd contracted it to a local, well-known (in the industry) PR company.
Last we heard, poor [company name omitted] were stuck not only with the bill for councils to clean up the Microsoft grafitti, but also the responsability to clean it off themselves (the more they got to, the less council had to do and thus the less they paid).
Microsoft Forms (Score:5, Funny)
A:
[] Recomended by a friend
[] Saw ad in magazine
[] Screaming butterflies spoke of them
Double-standards? (Score:5, Insightful)
Any publicity is good publicity. (Score:5, Insightful)
I think that was the whole point of all of this.
Video of Bill Gates in butterfly outfit... (Score:3, Interesting)
Butterfly Effect (Score:5, Funny)
Pardon? (Score:5, Funny)
As opposed to AOL, the "Microsoft operating system required" internet service.
Come again? (Score:4, Insightful)
Not exactly vandalism (Score:4, Interesting)
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.
Since the article specifically says the butterflies can be easily removed, I don't know if I'd call this vandalism. It's certainly less damaging than what IBM did in San Fran. Typical
Of course, it is dispicable for a company (MS, IBM, whoever) to just take over public property for the purpose of their advertising campaigns. There are proper ways of advertising, and this isn't one of them.
Re:Not exactly vandalism (Score:3, Interesting)
They may be "easily removeable" in the sense that it doesn't require crowbars or solvents to remove, but that doesn't mean that it still doesn't require labor -- workers that the city must pay for to remove these buterflies.
The article states that the stickers obstructed travel for those in wheelchairs or similarly physically disabled. They had to be removed to ensure the safety of those people. Thus, in a sense, the stickers obviously were a threat to public safety, although that threat was limited in its scope and damage. Possibly the worst thing that would have happened is someone would slip and break a hip, but hey -- wouldn't that be great advertising for Microsoft, too? They could offer the poor invalid a laptop with a complimentary 3 month subscription to MSN 8.
Also, let's compare Microsoft to, say, some activist who puts up a bunch of leaflets protesting the war in Iraq.
Do you honestly think the activist would receive a letter saying, "We hope this was just a misunderstanding"? Would the activist pretend that they had received authorization to put up the signs?
From the article:I say, make them pay for each one. They can certainly afford to.
What infuriates me about Corporate "guerilla" advertising is that it appropriates the methods of groups who use them because they don't have the money for traditional advertising, and because even if they did they would probably not want to support the corporate media system by running commercials on TV or buying full page ads in Newsweek. On the other hand, Microsoft and other companies are resorting to guerilla advertising because people are so jaded and don't respond to traditional Corporate advertising anymore.
Advertising used to be (way back before I was born) about letting consumers know about a product, and what it offered to the consumer in and of itself (Got Dandruff? Try Listerine! I'm not kidding -- that was in an ad from the forties or so). Nowadays, Corporate advertising is attempting to do nothing less than sell us our identity. Our choices, from the soda we drink or the car we drive to the shirts we wear or, yes, the ISP we use -- reflect not simply the need or desire for those products, but rather who we are as people (I'm a Chevrovel Cavalier Dr. Pepper Macintosh myself). However, this is backfiring these days because really most of the identies they offer are pretty much the same. Hence, the need to explore new forms of advertising, such as guerilla advertising.
Suddenly Microsoft, with a 90%+ market share of all software and the biggest, richest corporation in America is seen as rebellious, as deviant, as non-conformist. You just can't pay for that kind of advertising -- you also have to plan it carefully and then make sure the media propogates it.
Microsoft should use its money and influence to introduce positive forms of publicity. How about offering free MSN 8 to various charity organizations?
MSN Butterfly Ad On this Article! (Score:4, Insightful)
I did.
What's sad is that the extra publicity given by the NYT article, an angry NYC and Slashdot may be perceived as good. What's that marketing saying? There's no such thing as bad publicity? Makes me sick.
You are the mouthpiece for MSN... (Score:5, Insightful)
For everyone in here having a little fit about "this is stupid" and "does this work" is falling into the whole genius of the marketing ploy. This isn't to persuade someone to buy the product, this is an effort to generate mass press for next to free (minus some self dignity). They are getting you to TALK ABOUT THEIR PRODUCT. Now you guys will run around to your fellow coworkers "Did you see the stupid Microsoft butterfly thing?". And they will tell another employee, who actually isn't technically savy, and might find it interesting, go look it up, and sign up for it. In effect, you, who disdain microsoft, are being used to help them secure customers.
Let's think about it, they have an entire article on slashdot, a pretty pro Linux group, to discuss the matter about them dressing up a bunch of people for a few bucks and putting them on rollerblades. But the old saying is true, the only bad press is no press at all. The IBM/LINUX graffiti thing proved that. They received TONS of press for just a few, inexpensive pictures of the Tux.
Marketing 101. Take a course, you may like it.
Funny that... (Score:5, Funny)
Well, at least it grabbed some attention... (Score:4, Interesting)
Well, because I've seen some poor form of advertising from a rising star of the PC industry [dell.com]. Why do I call it poor? Because they think that it is a good idea to include a pamphlet of their latest offering on every issue of free daily newspapers in Singapore. Basically it's an ad sleeve covering the paper.
Most of the time people simply pull it out and throw it into the bin. Which is OK in my opinion except that 1/2 an hour later, almost all the bins in the MRT (mass rapid transit) station gets filled to the brim and adverts are flying everywhere. And those marketing guys from that company doesn't seem to bother, or perhaps they are all so bloody rich and never use public transport anyway.
Before you mod my rant as offtopic, think of the essence of this post which is about advertising (what MS and hyperlinked company are doing) and it's implication on people and the environment.
P/S: I do not work for neither company, and all opinions expressed are my own.
Bug on Windshield jokes? (Score:3, Funny)
or perhaps: Place all bugs in Windows jokes here
Re:Bug on Windshield jokes? (Score:4, Funny)
or perhaps: Place all bugs in Windows jokes here
SPOOOOOON! (Score:5, Funny)
They're not butterflies...they're moths.
And they're on their way to fight the Uncommon Cold.
Rollerbladers (Score:3, Interesting)
I saw the same thing in downtown Seattle a few months ago near Pacific Place. The rollerbladers were in all purple spandex bodysuits with the MSN butterfly wings attached to their backs. I wonder if this is how they punish employees that are habitually late to work. I had to clean the employee bathroom once for doing just that...
Where's the Linux retort? (Score:5, Funny)
"We're short! We're fat! We can't fly! We're pissed! And Windows sucks!"
NYC Cries "It's Illegal!" (Score:5, Insightful)
Since when has Microsoft obeyed laws?
Stupidity (Score:5, Funny)
"I trust and hope that these offensive activities are not the authorized acts of your organization's employees and agents," Mr. Fernandez [Assistant counsel of the Transportation Department] wrote..."
Does Mr. Fernandez perhaps believe that Microsoft employees paid for thousands of 20" Microsoft butterflies with Microsoft advertising out of their own pockets?
OF COURSE IT WAS AN AUTHORIZED ACT YOU TWIT!
The other boroughs... (Score:3, Funny)
Truth in Advertising (Score:5, Funny)
Subvert the message (Score:4, Funny)
I have gone from disliking Microsoft to hating them for spoiling my living environment so to retaliate. . . Everytime someone brings up this abject vandalism in conversation, I make a very specific, understandable point about how Microsoft vandalizes the economic environment and acts as a regular sabateur and law-breaker when it serves their petty interest. It may be annoying to them (heck, I may seem annoying to them by doing it), but these people know that I know what I'm talking about and they start hating Microsoft too. They are reminded of it everytime they see that butterfly trash too. . . hundreds of times a day. I've even heard some people spread the word (of disgust)
Is this the intended effect? Just because we remember it and talk about it, does that serve their intentions? Everyone recognizes and talks about swastikas at some time in their lives, but I wouldn't call that "buzz" positive.
The butterfly logo ... (Score:4, Insightful)
(You can't see it in these pictures, but yes, he does have wings. Good pictures of him seem to be hard to find. images.google.com found a few, but none were really good ...)
Is this wierd?? (Score:4, Interesting)
If you currently have an AOL account, the TrueSwitch service will be able to cancel your account for you -- just follow the simple instructions. "
MSN comes with a service that cancels your aol account for you... I wonder what else it can do?
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."
I've seen the bastards (Score:4, Funny)
Then one got clipped by a taxi.
Damn butterflies.
Damned butterflies (Score:4, Funny)
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:4, Insightful)
> I seem to remember a time when IBM went chalking
> the streets with Peace, Love, and Linux phrases
> and logos....
That may not have been legal either, but at least it was better intentioned. The hearts, peace signs and penguins were supposed to vanish by themselves with the next rain (alas, that did not happen, but they tried).
Microsoft is plastering plastic signs of some size (12 to 20 inches) on walls and pavements. Even if they are easy to remove, that is still a lot of (non-biodegradable?) plastic littering the city. I'd get them for being a bunch of litterbugs.
Today's weather for New York: a stiff tail wind as an angry Moth goddess blows the pretenders on their skates right out of town.
(Don't worry, with those plastic wings and skates, it won't take much of a tail wind at all. Good New Yorkers should enjoy a refreshing breeze.)
On December 14, 1996, Mothra resurrected a charred Apple sapling ("Mosura" 1996).
On December 14, 2001, Mothra returned to see its fruit ("Gojira, Mosura, Kingu Ghidora: Daikaiju Soukougeki").
OS X Jaguar: truly the Apple of Mothra's Aqua eye.
Re:This One Time, At Band Camp (Score:3, Interesting)
Besides, with a little luck these rollerblading people with butterfly wings are cute girl. And who never fantasized about cute elfs... Oh, wait... that would be just me... did I say that out loud?
Re:photos? (Score:5, Informative)