Anti-Wal-Mart Billboard
Artist: Local 342
Year: 2005
Date of Action: April 2005
Region: North America
Location: Staten Island
Subject: Political/Economic/Social Opinion
Medium: Commercial Advertising
Confronting Bodies: Clear Channel
Description of Artwork: A billboard expressing anti-Wal-Mart sentiments; the design contained a fire-breathing Godzilla posing near the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge. The text on the billboard: "The Wal-Monster will destroy Staten Island businesses and devastate our quality of life"
The Incident: Clear Channel, a radio network that also runs an outdoor advertising company, signed a contract with Local 342-- giving the group six months use of a billboard near Borough Hall in Staten Island. When the group planned to install an image with anti-Wal-Mart sentiments (in anticipation of an incoming new site in Staten Island) Clear Channel rejected the design, arguing that the piece was too inflammatory.
Results of Incident: Local 342, still eager to communicate the hazardous outgrowths that would surface from Wal-Mart's invasion into Staten Island, had to modify its billboard design.
Source:
• http://www.nytimes.com/2005/04/19/nyregion/19walmart.html
