Friday, September 03, 2010

Is this legal?

This morning, while walking to a doctor's appointment, I noticed that there was more colour on the sidewalk than normal. Eventually I looked down and examined the situation more closely. What I found was a spray-painted ad about high-speed internet services from EastLink.



I was somewhat taken aback by this ad. Not only was it hard to read, at least I found it to be, but I don't know how it isn't illegal. Even though this was placed on the sidewalk by a company, I don't see how it isn't different than regular graffiti, except that it has as more obvious commercial purpose (which means that they are defacing public property for commercial gains). I wonder how long this ad campaign will stick around, or if there will be any legal repercussions for EastLink.
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6 comments:

  1. dgrahamFri Sep 03, 06:46:00 PM ADT

    Yeah... this is almost certainly illegal. This kind of "guerilla advertising" is a big issue in a lot of cities (like Toronto) and I'd encourage you to find out who is in charge of regulating outdoor advertising in Halifax and contact them.

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  2. CameronFri Sep 03, 09:27:00 PM ADT

    This afternoon we collectively came to a similar conclusion (that we should contact the city). It seems likely that because so many municipal by-laws are enforced on a complaint-only basis that it might be particularly important that we contact the city with regards to this issue.

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  3. jlyeFri Sep 03, 10:52:00 PM ADT

    Right in front of my apartment too :o(

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  4. CameronFri Sep 03, 10:56:00 PM ADT

    The offense has now been reported to the appropriate authorities.

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  5. dgrahamSat Sep 04, 05:12:00 AM ADT

    I'm really happy that you guys reported this :)

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  6. CameronSat Sep 04, 09:34:00 AM ADT

    I am quite curious to see how the city will deal with my complaint and the offending graffiti.

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