My wife works in movie poster design, and over the years, companies she’s worked for have had billboards “hijacked” by vandals — often with political motives. When it happens, the poster designers are usually thrilled, as they were a few years ago when, overnight, one of their Resident Evil billboards was changed to read “President Evil” — complete with Bush’s face in place of Milla Jovovich’s. Then just last month, another Bush-themed parody of one of their posters showed up on Flickr, hitting the top of the Digg charts. Again, the designers were tickled pink.
As it turns out, there’s a group out there that devotes themselves to just this sort of (usually political) reappropriation — they’re called the Billboard Liberation Front, or the BLF. They’ve been “improving” billboards around San Francisco and elsewhere since the late 70s, with early gems like this:
Most recently, they tapped into the fear and malaise created by the current financial meltdown to improve a months-old Wachovia billboard that seemed a little out of step with reality. Before:
After:
Similarly, they had something to say about the Bush administration’s ongoing wiretapping controversy:
This billboard used to decry frivolous lawsuits in California. Now it’s entirely frivolous:
This one’s just saying what we were all thinking anyway:
And this one, which appeared in Texas not long ago, mystified locals for weeks. It’s not the work of the BLF, and no one’s sure exactly what message it’s trying to get across — but it I find it irresistibly absurd:
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Many moons ago, I was involved with a billboard artist, it was really an extension of his graffiti. He had a series dedicated to cereal parodies that were pretty offensive. He painted the whole billboard himself at home and then wheat pasted it over an existing billboard. Pretty sure he’s in jail these days. Very strange guy.
posted by sam on 11-10-2008 at 11:50 am
Clearly we are meant to understand that Jesus has crappy taste in beer.
posted by karen on 11-10-2008 at 1:53 pm
What is the McCain poster parodying? (And it is McCain, not Bush.)
posted by Jesse on 11-10-2008 at 2:06 pm
Isn’t the second poster supposed to be of McCain, not Bush?
posted by Kathleen on 11-10-2008 at 2:08 pm
Kathleen, I believe the intent is that it’s Bush wearing a McCain mask.
posted by Scott on 11-10-2008 at 2:27 pm
And it’s a parody of the movie Saw V.
posted by Johnny Cat on 11-10-2008 at 2:51 pm
The McCain poster is parodying the Saw V movie…implying that a McCain presidency would be just Bush III.
posted by Jen on 11-10-2008 at 2:55 pm
I don’t think Amelia was supposed to be anything other then creepy and Ironic. It was an inspirational billboard for girls, and it points out she’s never been found
posted by Lorelei on 11-10-2008 at 9:42 pm
if this stuff interests you, you should check out the documentary “POPaganda: The Art and Crimes of Ron English.” He was a billboard bomber too and had some pretty crazy stuff. i think he might was the one that did the “king of Jews/King of Beers” Billboard
posted by andy on 11-12-2008 at 11:47 am