'Lawless Marketing' Strikes Again With New Sidewalk Graffiti Ad Campaign

'Lawless Marketing' Strikes Again With New Sidewalk Graffiti Ad CampaignPhoto: Lauren O'Niell
Camden Avery
Published on March 16, 2016

Lyft and Justin Bieber aren't alone: this week, so-called guerrilla marketing (a.k.a. stenciled sidewalk graffiti) has struck again.

This time, the culprit is Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros, in support of their forthcoming album PersonA, which releases April 15th. (And yes, if you're wondering, that funky strikethrough red paint is actually part of their logo.)

The new graffiti, currently spotted in front of Pork Store at 1451 Haight St. (but probably scattered throughout the city), is the latest in a string of commercial graffiti deployed in the city. Both recent attempts, by Lyft and by Justin Bieber's marketing machine last fall, drew local ire, especially in light of city taxpayers having to foot the bill for cleanup

As recently as last fall, the city's Department of Public Works said spray-painted graffiti advertising was unacceptable on city property; there is a legal precedent (namely Zynga, in 2010) for the city holding advertisers financially accountable for cleanup. In December, City Attorney Dennis Herrera blasted Justin Bieber's record label and distribution company for the 'lawless marketing', and demanded that they compensate San Francisco for the cleanup. (We've been checking with the City Attorney's office as to the outcome of those demands, but so far nothing has been forthcoming.)

At the time of this posting, we haven't heard back from Edward Sharpe's representative, New Community Management, about the graffiti.

Have you spotted the Magnetic Zeros stencils around the city? Let us know where.