Carbon Offsets

21 Oct 2021

Another bank financing fossil fuels? NatWest’s murky climate policies targeted in billboard takeovers 21st October 2021 The lending policies of a COP26 sponsor NatWest bank have been called into question in a guerrilla billboard campaign across the UK. Ad spaces have been taken over with satirical NatWest ads spotlighting questionable loopholes in the bank’s climate policy, which allegedly allow NatWest to continue financing fossil fuel companies as long as they proclaim to ‘offset’ their carbon emissions. Artworks by Darren Cullen…

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Ad agencies

19 Oct 2021

  #BanFossilAds campaign targets advertising agencies over work with highly polluting clients. October 2021. Top advertising agencies HQ’d in London have been accused of greenwashing major polluters including car and SUV companies, airlines and fossil fuels, in a campaign that saw over 200 billboards and bus stops hacked by activists in the UK, Belgium and France. Leading agencies were targeted over their role in the climate crisis, as spoof ads installed without permission linked Ogilvy, MediaCom, VCCP and others with…

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Barclays #FossilBanks

21 Sep 2021

Barclays finances climate breakdown: Guerilla billboard campaigns slam Barclays for funding the expansion of the fossil fuel industry. September 2021 (#1) & May 22 (#2, below) Barclays hack #1, September 2021: In a UK-wide adhack campaign, over 200 artworks have been installed in corporate bus stop and billboard advertising spaces to critique Barclays financing of fossil fuels companies.  Dubbed ‘the dirtiest bank in Europe’, Barclays continues to provide massive sums of money in support of major polluters.Above: art design by Darren…

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HSBC

02 Nov 2020

Campaigners reject HSBC’s ‘net-zero ambition’, targeting billboards over ‘climate colonialism’ November 2020 The action is part of a UK-wide week of action, as activists in 15 UK cities take over billboards and bus stops with spoof HSBC ads. HSBC has been accused of “climate colonialism” after bankrolling significant human rights abuses through its fossil fuel investments. HSBC has invested over £67 billion in fossil fuels since the Paris Climate accord in 2016 Activists in 15 UK cities have covered billboards…

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#AdBrake Car Subverts

21 Aug 2020

??? SUV advertising with Michelle Tylicki. Brandalism 2020 from Brandalism on Vimeo. #AdBrake – Car Subvertising September 2020 Across the UK, the car remains king. In our streets, our neighbourhoods, government transport budgets and urban architectures – the primacy of individualised car ownership has become culturally dominant. Our cities are left with soaring air pollution, inadequate public transport, congested streets and rising greenhouse gas emissions. Motor advertising plays a central role in re-enforcing the status symbol of the car. In…

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Shell

15 Jun 2018

  2024: Hacked billboards protest Shell’s dodgy PR tactics in climate protest ahead of London AGM   Oil giant Shell’s tobacco-style PR tactics were targeted in a guerrilla billboarding action across London, Manchester and other core UK cities in the run up to Shell’s 2024 AGM in London. In the clandestine operation, Brandalism activists replaced more than 200 commercial adverts on billboards, bus stops and tube carriages with satirical artworks protesting Shell’s efforts to “fast track the apocalypse”, as shareholders…

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Switch Sides

19 Mar 2017

In October 2016, over 300 pamphlets were delivered to creative industry workers at the top 25 agencies across England as we  launched  our ‘Advertisers Anonymous’ (AA) programme.  After successfully hijacking 600 advertising spaces in Paris last December on the eve of the COP21 Climate Summit, we began actively recruiting  members from inside some of the world’s most recognised advertising and communications agencies.     The agencies targeted included Saatchi & Saatchi, Adam & Eve DDB, AMV BDDO, Ogilvy & Mather,…

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Bus Stops Ads

08 Dec 2016

Brandalism 2014 – 365 Ad Hacks, 40 artists, 10 Cities Brandalism returned to the streets in 2014 with 10 crews trained up in UK cities to create a new subvertising network. Over 2 days, 365 artworks were installed in bus stop sized advertising spaces in Edinburgh, Glasgow, Liverpool, Manchester, Leeds, Birmingham, Brighton, Bristol, Oxford and London.  All artworts were silk screen printed; as originals and installed anonymously as gifts to the public across the UK.   Silk Screened Artworks  …

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The 48 Sheet

08 Dec 2016

 Brandalism 2012  – 36 Billboards in 5 cities (UK) Brandalism began in July 2012 in the UK. Across five cities, 36 large format billboards (known as ‘48 sheets’ in industry terms) were replaced with artworks by over 28 international artists. The artworks submitted addressed the inter-related impacts of advertising on society including body image, debt, cultural values, the environment and visual pollution. Dropping just before the protective brand-mania that characterised the 2012 London Olympics that summer, the project gained international…

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