Frank-ProvoRemember that episode of NBC's The Apprentice a while back where the two teams competed to advertise Sony's Gran Turismo 4 using graffiti artists?
Apparently, Sony liked the concept so much that the company recently commissioned graffiti artists in major U.S. cities to tag property with images of hiphop kids playing with PSPs. The images have turned up in at least five cities (New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Chicago, and Philadelphia). According to Sony officials, the wall space has been rented legally and all necessary permits were obtained.
Local neighbors have complained about the artwork. Furthermore, "legitimate" graffiti artists have complained and have gone so far as to deface the Sony-sponsored images. In San Francisco, the artworks have been defaced with red paint and captioned with euphemisms referring to lewd sex acts.
Click here to view photos taken of the ads , before and after they were defaced.
Asked about the criticism, Molly Smith, Sony Computer Entertainment America's director of public relations, responds by saying that "art is subjective" and that the campaign is in line with the company's marketing strategy for the system. "Our target is what we consider to be urban nomads, people who are on the go constantly."