Tag Advertising
FOOTBALL WAR

I did a version of these new British Army recruitment ads back in 2010 for my anti-army recruitment comic Join the Army. The UK is the only country in Europe and NATO that still recruits 16 year old children into…
CHATGPT SUICIDE MACHINE

New anti-chatbot ad that has started appearing on the London transport network. LLM chatbots like ChatGPT have been responsible for dozens of confirmed suicides, murders and serious mental health crises, particularly involving children and young people. Any product that is this dangerous to young people would normally be nowhere near a classroom. And would likely be banned outright. But thanks to the cult-like AI-hype that has consumed the brains of our government and corporate leaders, they only want more integration of these products into education, not less. If you’d like to print a copy or two of this poster you can download the file below:
MAKE AMAZON PAY

New poster I made as part of Brandalism’s anti-Amazon Black Friday that went up over the last few days in support of the Make Amazon Pay campaign. I designed the poster at the last minute while I was in Nigeria which is why none of it is painted. Massive thanks to Brandalism for organising the campaign and the install crews for getting them out there! Check out the other artists on Brandalism’s page, Michelle Tylicki aka @shelkadelic did a great one which I’ve posted below.
THIS IS THE NIGER DELTA

Went subvertising for the first time in Nigeria yesterday evening, along with Friday Nbani of Lekeh Development Foundation and with the help of some local lads we got two billboards up on disused billboard spaces in Ogoniland We actually got caught by a government official halfway through, who turned up with a squad of tough guys on motorbikes, and it got quite heated, but after a discussion in which a sum of money was mentioned, he allowed his tough guys to assist us in finishing our work.
FREE FLIGHTS FOR WAR CRIMINALS

If there’s one thing government ministers love it’s corporate gifts and freebies, (which some people rudely refer to as ‘bribes’,) so hopefully this offer of a FREE FLIGHT to the International Criminal Court at The Hague will get their attention. You can download a printable version here: Jet2Jail ad.pdf Download PDF • 97.22MB
STFU BA

Some two finger salutes making their way onto British Airwards billboards at the moment. You can download the print file here: Two finger sticker print.pdf Download PDF • 5.59MB
STORMZY SOLD OUT

As Israel ramped up it’s genocide in Gaza, bombing civilians indiscriminately and cutting off food and water to 2.2 million people, McDonalds in Israel gave out free food to soldiers doing the killing and offered a 50% discount to anyone taking part in the massacre. In response, the Palestinian Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) Movement called for a boycott of McDonald’s. McDonalds Malaysia responded with a $1.3 million lawsuit against the BDS campaign.
ADVERTISING ADVERTISING

Thanks to everyone who came down to the billboard subvertising workshop today and helped put this up, and thanks to @olstar73 for bringing his expertise and patience to get three billboards up in the space of an afternoon even as the final poster fell apart in our hands. This is one of the daftest designs I’ve ever committed to a billboard space and it makes me very happy. Love a bit of recursion, me.
2024 PRESS ROUNDUP

Firstly I was very happy to be invited on the Cursed Objects podcast to talk about the Museum of Neoliberalism, I thought it went very well! Listen here. I was also on the AdFree Cities Podcast ‘Better Without Billboards‘ although I think I rambled a bit more on this one. Below are the various press links, (right-wing outlets have archive links to avoid giving them ad revenue and circumvent any paywall)
ARTIFICIAL AI

The Mechanical Turk was a machine built in 1770, at the start of the Industrial Revolution, that supposedly beat Napoleon and Benjamin Franklin at chess. It toured for 84 years before being destroyed in a fire and, although many suspected it was a scam, it was only revealed to have been a hoax as late as 1834. It seems obvious now, but it was essentially a box with a person inside. Today, we call this the AI revolution. AI is one of the most hyped technologies of my lifetime, and yet its real-world results either don’t work, are inaccurate, annoying, and/or thoroughly depressing. Supposedly fully-automated AI-tech is frequently revealed to be no more than thousands of low-paid workers in a trench coat.
LIES BOX

While attempting to clear out my studio I found a few left over art boxes from the Werbepause subvertising exhibition I co-curated in Berlin in 2022. The NUKE box, below, has been on my website shop before, a limited edition of 70. But there were substantially fewer LIES boxes, only enough for an edition of 12 so to make it fair I’m only offering them for sale from 18:00 today. One per person! Order here.
STAND UP FOR GAZA

DIY bus stop Mcdonalds advert alterations in support of Gaza
PEPSI AD

I love it when you only have to change one word. Low calorie, low effort subvertising. More here: subvertising.co.uk I’m slowly making a series of one-word Pepsi ad alterations. See previously: Subvertised pepsi ad, words changed to “Thirsty for more… SHITE”
WAKE UP AND SMELL THE GENOCIDE

I feel numb from this week’s news. From yesterday’s Israeli Flour Massacre of over 112 starving Palestinians who were simply trying to get food from aid trucks, to the unbearably sickening photo being passed around an Israeli telegram channel of one of the victims who has been zip-tied as a prisoner and then flattened into unrecognisable human paste by an Israeli tank. Every time I feel like we have reached a high-water mark of horror and suffering in Gaza, Israel raises the threshold of just how much barbarism Western politicians and journalists can apparently accept and attempt to justify. Added to this, earlier in the week to see the video of USAF air man Aaron Bushnell setting fire to himself outside the Israeli embassy in Washington D.C as he screamed “Free Palestine” until he collapsed and died. He showed courage and commitment that I cannot fathom and I simply cannot shake the image from my mind of him shouting those words even as the flames entered his throat and burned his tongue. It was an unbelievably harrowing reminder of what has been done to tens of thousands of children, all in our name, with weapons made in our countries. The images of atrocity and barbarism that make it out of Gaza only remind us of what untold and undocumented horrors the people of Palestine have endured and will continue to endure because politicians in the West are complicit cowards in upholding American Empire. Israel being the American Empire’s most strategically important Imperial outpost. We need to make sure that those who are complicit in these crimes are never allowed to forget it. All the politicians who lined up to defend this genocide must be crammed into the dustbin of history. Instead of your vote, give them your contempt. Let them […]
DIGITAL AD SPACE EFFICIENCY RATING

I made some Energy Efficiency Rating stickers for digital advertising spaces to let the public know just how much electricity these things burn through per year. You can get four stickers for £1 from my shop: www.spellingmistakescostlives.com/product-page/energy-efficiency-rating-sticker-for-digital-ad-spaces (For legal/research purposes only obvs)
BARCLAYS #FOSSILBANKS

I made a new poster for a Brandalism campaign exposing Barclays’ dirty fossil fuel links and their funding of rainforest-clearing agribusinesses. It’s part of a campaign across 20 UK cities and towns with 200 billboard and bus stop posters. There’s more info and photos of the other artist’s posters in the campaign on the Brandalism website. More of my previous subvertising work here.
HELL BUS

WELCOME TO THE HELL BUS The Hell Bus is a pre-apocalyptic marketing suite showcasing all the ideas oil and gas companies have come up with to save the world from oil and gas companies. First opening at COP26 in Glasgow…
HSBC’S EMPTY CLIMATE PROMISES

I designed a new poster for Brandalism’s ongoing campaign focusing on HSBC’s empty climate promises. Billboard and bus stop posters were installed around the UK by Brandalism and volunteers from other anti-advertising groups. Massive thanks to everyone who put these in the street. More details about the project on the Brandalism website. More of my subvertising work here: www.spellingmistakescostlives.com/subvertising These posters are a follow up to one I made late last year.
FUTURE PROBLEMS

Quick one from the back of my sketchbook.
TRUTH IN ADVERTISING

Advertising doesn’t just distort the truth, the lies told by adverts distort reality. “It is important to bear in mind that political campaigns are designed by the same people who sell toothpaste and cars.” – Noam Chomsky Similar projects on my subvertising page here.
AD NAUSEA – STICKER KIT

I made this Ad Nausea sticker kit for easily adding thoughts of existential dread to the inhabitants of public advertisements. Available here: www.spellingmistakescostlives.com/shop Based on my Ad Nausea project: www.spellingmistakescostlives.com/adnausea The thought bubbles are also available as a free download from that page.
YOUR AD HERE

Corporations and woke ad campaigns will not save us. A corporation legally cannot take a stand for anything except shareholder value. Their campaigns are simply attempts at commodifying and neutering political movements. We can’t buy our way to a better world. More subvertising.
SUVs

An anti-SUV poster I drew before the lockdown. It seems a lot of people buy SUV’s under the impression these giant city-tractors will protect their children on the school-run, but that comes at the cost of pedestrian safety. You’re twice as likely to die being hit by an SUV than you are by any other car. Their height also creates a blind spot around the car which has caused countless horrific accidents involving small children. The safety for the occupants of SUVs is also an illusion. They’re twice as likely to roll in crashes and you’re 11% more likely to die in a crash in a SUV than a normal car. In Europe, sales of SUVs continue to increase; from 7% of the market in 2009 to 36% in 2019. They are forecast to reach nearly 40% by 2021.
AD BRAKE

Last week a fake car ad I designed was installed in London as part of Brandalism’s #AdBrake project. Massive thanks to Special Patrol Group for the installation and photo! More of my subvertising work here.
ANTI-ADVERTISING CONFERENCE

I’m going to be doing a talk/workshop called ‘The art of parody — what makes a good satirical poster?’ at the UK’s first anti-advertising conference bringing together activists, artists, planners and community campaigners, in Bristol next month. The workshop will be alongside Matt Bonner of Revolt Design, who’s behind a ton of great activist art & design including maybe most famously the Trump Baby balloon. There’s loads of other brilliant talks on the day, for the full program and how to attend click the link below, also check the FB event. Fighting for Ad-free Cities // Sat 26th October // 2019. Free to attend. Register here: http://adblockbristol.org.uk/adblock-conference-2019/
SUBVERTISERS FOR LONDON

I do some talking in this great short doc from Dog Section Films about subvertising. (21mins). Also featuring: Jonathan Barnbrook, Dr. D, Hogre, Double Why, Lydia Dagostino, Protest Stencil, Sila Yucel and Special Patrol Group. Music: Algiers, Biege Thickness, Jonny Drop.
LOOK WHAT IT DOES TO A PENNY

Thanks again to Special Patrol Group for putting up my NUKE poster in bus stops around London recently. Check out all the other #SubvertTheCity interventions and get involved. In case anyone wants one I have limited edition prints of this poster available in my online shop it’s also a fake ad in my Mini Daily Mail.
SUBVERT THE CITY

Big thanks to Special Patrol Group for putting up some of my posters on a recent mission around London.
BOOT LICKING

New poster started appearing on the tube. Based on an ad from my Mini Daily Mail.
TORY LAND

Tory Land theme park adverts have started appearing on the London Underground. You don’t need a ticket, you’re already there. The ad featured in the mini Daily Mail I did with RRUNews in Liverpool. I’m doing a kickstarter to get it reprinted which you can back here: www.minidailymail.co.uk. I’ve also added a new page to the Projects section containing all my Subvertising work. #Tories #Subvertising
ADVERTISING TERROR

Video made by RRU news about the first project I completed during my residency with them in Liverpool. More details on the project page.
THAT SUN

As part of my artist residency with RRUNews in Liverpool, I’ve updated The Sun’s advertising rate card. The card sets out a new pricing system for advertisers, in which they can pay more to have their advert placed directly next to the most attention grabbing terror stories. See the full card at: thatsun.co.uk These leaflets were sent out to over 200 people working in the marketing departments of The Sun’s biggest advertisers.
JESUS CHRIST VAN HIRE

#Subvertising #Religion #Jesus #Advertising
JESUS
READ MOREJESUS#MAKETHEFUTURE #UNINHABITABLE

I designed some posters for this anti-fossil fuel greenwashing campaign in collaboration with Brandalism targeting Shell’s bullshit PR festival #makethefuture. Posters gone up in bus stops in London, Leeds, Bristol and Oxford. Images taken from my #burnthefuture installation at Shangri-La/Glastonbury last year. The other artists posters for this are brilliant too. 🛢🔥💀
