Positive Advertising: The Appropriated Poster Campaign

The Wooster Collective spoke with artist Sean Woolsey about his Appropriated Poster Campaign – a public art installation where he transforms traditional bus stop billboards into something positive and meaningful.  Currently only on display in Southern California, the campaign seeks to inspire bus riders not to be just a consumer, but to be a better human being – by taking the original advertising, removing any branding, altering and re-installing the bus posters to instead communicate a positive message.

According to Woolsey,

The Appropriated Poster Campaign is an ongoing experimental campaign to raise cognitive awareness and more importantly to inspire benevolent action that we often forget, oversee, or might be in opposition to our often hedonistic culture. The campaign is predominantly bus stop posters that I paint over and reinstall into their normal habitat with a new purpose. It also acts as an inherent social commentary in declaring a space more public than it was before.

While several brands (like Kenneth Cole) have made strides to contribute to socially beneficial initiatives – and to dedicate some of their advertising to educate consumers on these issues – advertising still has a way to go in order to contribute to a better society – and not just to consumers that will spend more.  There’s no reason why business and positive social messaging cannot coexist – they are not mutually exclusive.  While Woolsey’s art is just that – art with no sales revenue or brand awareness goals tied to it – it can certainly serve as an inspiration to advertisers on how to incorporate more constructive, positive messages into their advertising (vs. being edgy for the sake of being sexy or controversial).

[via GOODfeed]