Famed British street artist Banksy has recently hit NYC with a slew of interesting graffiti art and even an impromptu pop up Village Petstore and Charcoal Grill on 7th Avenue in the West Village. His messages are typically politically or socially charged and have been displayed (without permission) everywhere from Israel to China to the Met. This particular graffiti piece is currently up on Houston St., a few blocks from my apt.
I stared at it yesterday for awhile thinking of all of the different ways this could be interpreted and what he really means.
No such thing as good publicity? Really?!
While what we do at Affinitive is not "publicity", Word of Mouth often results in an organic publicity, generated in consumer to consumer conversations, and often in three-way conversations that involve consumer dialogue directly with the brand. There are many stories built upon Word of Mouth and Social Media initiatives, and most of these result in "good" publicity.
Is this reading too much into a Banksy graffiti tag? Maybe...but his messages are all delivered with an intent and purpose, so he is definitely saying something here. Is this more of a comment on the Reality TV-laden current social sphere where people like Paris Hilton exist in a swarm of paparazzi-is that his statement here?
I'd love to hear your thoughts on his message here, so leave a comment! 
Side note: Fan of Banksy? Check out Streetsy's list of 40 other street artists you should know.
View Comments so far ↓
1 Michael // Oct 26, 2008 at 3:02 pm
Banksy's art is great and I love what he does. But that doesn't imply that he has any more wisdom about the world than your average anti-advertising crank.
He's playing on the saying that therea's no such thing as bad publicity. From this and his other works, his message seems to be that all means of selling are bad. I hope he is taking a stab at Paris Hilton, because frankly I wish I'd never herd of her.
Maybe you're saying what affinitive does is “good” because it strives to be honest and more engaging to the consumer's voice. Either way, I'm sure banksy would rather keep being a sophisticated vandal than participate in new paradigms of “good” organic publicity.
2 Hampers // Jun 11, 2009 at 12:53 pm
What he meant here – the posting and everything was already his own way to publicize himself. Isn't it obvious? By the word of mouth (because of curiosity from the onlookers), he already publicized himself….lol nice ideathough.
3 max191 // Oct 1, 2009 at 6:11 am
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4 CateringGlasgow // Oct 29, 2009 at 10:03 am
Banksy is amazing. hope no one uncovers him
5 CateringGlasgow // Oct 29, 2009 at 2:03 pm
Banksy is amazing. hope no one uncovers him
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