Big (T) laffs OTD

[prog]

In the parallel universe where I have the ability to give out Nobel Prizes at whim, I think I'd have a whole category for subway advertising defacement. Sometimes I am moved to tears just by the sight of a grinning model with an uneven Salvador Dali mustache or blackened teeth, as much from the basic silliness as the appreciation for such clean & classic naughtiness. The prize for this category would be shaped like a 1930s Daffy Duck holding a Sharpie and grinning wickedly. While he drew a mustache on Alfred Nobel's profile. Today's winner, though, was seen on a poster for an adult ed program of some sort; the original imagery centered on a glowing brain lifting a barbell, and at bottom had a young man raising his fist and whooping at the sky, joyous of his newfound intellectual might or whatever. Anyway, someone put a word balloon over his head: Curse you, Evil Brain!!

Comments

[hrafn.livejournal.com]

That is indeed prize-worthy. *grin* Perhaps you could print up little stickers noting their noteworthiness to apply to such works of, um, art or something . . . except it would be kind of tricky to actually apply them, given that such posters are often on the far side of the CAUTION THIRD RAIL. Or, I suppose, digital photography+Web site would be another option . . . Anyone out there with too much spare time?

[queue.livejournal.com]

Actually, I saw this particular ad on the inside of a train. Anyway.

[hrafn.livejournal.com]

Er, oh yeah, they _do_ have ads inside the cars. Duh.

[prog.livejournal.com]

Indeed, all the marked-up ads I have seen have been either on platform-side station walls, or in the subway cars themselves.

Some ads manage to achieve a sort of self-defacement (though I guess this isn't unique to subway ads). My favorite may have been one that tried to tout an airline's comfortable seats by having huge letters arranged like this:

A H H H H H H H
H H H H H H H H
H H H H H H H H 
H H H H H H H H 
H H H H H H H H 
H H H H H H H H 
H H H H H H H !

...on a background of a cloudy blue sky. And, OK, I know they were trying to depict a long, contented sigh, but there's a fine line , at least typographically, between that and a blood-curdling scream, and I'm not sure they quite captured the distinction with such a minimal display.

I like your idea about the stickers, actually. I may do something with this. >:)

[hrafn.livejournal.com]

Heh. I wonder if one can be criminally charged for proving people with ideas for vandalism . . . oops, too late. I may have to start looking for stickers on ads now . . .