Sony's New Ad Campaign Draws Attention…Literally

File this story under the, Gee, it sure sounded like a good idea at the time, folder. The advertising department for Sony™s PSP ads, a success by anyone™s standards, decided to delve into a new creative ad campaign to further increase the visibility of their handheld game console. The new ad blitz targeted cites such as San Francisco, the north side of Philadelphia, New York and others. The problem isn™t about the content of the ads, but about the way in which the ads are displayed. Sony ad people thought it would be a novel way to exhibit the ads through graffiti. Not ads that look like graffiti, but *real* graffiti sprayed on the walls of buildings and other graffiti applicable locations. Last month, a spokesperson for Sony said the company was hiring artists to spray paint the pre-designed ads in selected cities. (You know where this story is going, don™t you?) The ads, which have appeared in San Francisco, drew mixed reactions. Some thought the idea was creative, while others saw it as urban eye pollution. Anti-graffiti individuals did a little graffiti work of their own by defacing the Sony ads with endearing comments such as Get out of my city!!! and poetic verse not suitable for posting here. The Sony graffiti has no text references to its PSP, but has artwork which shows cartoon-like characters riding PSP-like skateboards, holding the device or using the PSP like a marionette. It seems that art, or graffiti in this case, is in the eye of the beholder. But the problem Sony is having is that not everyone wants to behold the graffiti.