“

People are taking the piss out of you everyday. They butt into your life, take a cheap shot at you and then disappear. They leer at you from tall buildings and make you feel small. They make flippant comments from buses that imply you’re not sexy enough and that all the fun is happening somewhere else. They are on TV making your girlfriend feel inadequate. They have access to the most sophisticated technology the world has ever seen and they bully you with it. They are The Advertisers and they are laughing at you.

You, however, are forbidden to touch them. Trademarks, intellectual property rights and copyright law mean advertisers can say what they like wherever they like with total impunity.

Fuck that. Any advert in a public space that gives you no choice whether you see it or not is yours. It’s yours to take, re-arrange and re-use. You can do whatever you like with it. Asking for permission is like asking to keep a rock someone just threw at your head.

You owe the companies nothing. Less than nothing, you especially don’t owe them any courtesy. They owe you. They have re-arranged the world to put themselves in front of you. They never asked for your permission, don’t even start asking for theirs.

”

Banksy, (via soupsoup)

This has made the rounds, but I wanted to make sure it was on my page so I could always refer back to it.

Once I was taking down an anti-choice sign on the subway and this random girl who worked in finance (I overheard her chatting about it) tried to stop me because as she said, “that company paid for that to be there.” Which to her, was obviously gospel.

Obviously I’m pro-choice, but what really offended me about the advert was the phrasing. It said “abortion changes you.” And that was it. They had different versions with varying pictures of people looking beyond depressed. Many of the ads were pictures of men.

It wasn’t offering a service, or asking you to consider adoption, it was just telling you how to feel. Or worse, how you would or should feel. I thought that was bullshit so I pulled down as many of them as I could. It also seemed to meant to make people feel guilt. I’d be damned if some woman, BECAUSE ONE IN THREE WOMEN IN AMERICA HAS AN ABORTION IN HER LIFETIME (AKA MORE WOMEN THAN YOU REALIZE AND DEFINITELY SOMEONE YOU KNOW) was going to feel like shit on the subway on her way to work just because that ridiculous company paid for the space. I don’t believe that companies should be able to pay to harass me. Plus it’s not like I am riding the subway for free. I’m paying to be there too.

So this is what I’ll say next time this comes up.

(via daisyrosario, zaschell)

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