Creative Criminals

A provocative new sculpture has opened at the U.S.-Canada border crossing near Vancouver. It’s a billboard called ‘Non-Sign II’ it’s the brainchild of the Seattle art and architecture firm Lead Pencil Studio and was commissioned by the United States government.
It’s a billboard that advertises nothing but clean air. And how do you promote clean air? The studio puts it this way: “Borrowing the effectiveness of billboards to redirect attention away from the landscape… this permanently open aperture between nations works to frame nothing more than a clear view of the changing atmospheric conditions beyond.”
You should definitely click on the smaller images to see the details.

Danerolles is a brand of ready to bake pastry. With this billboard they want to promote their croissants by shaping the billboard as a croissant, simply by rolling it up. The idea is really good, the image looks a bit like it’s photoshopped, but Y&R Amsterdam confirmed it is in fact real.

Nizhny Novgorod is the fourth largest city in Russia and to make drivers aware what can happen when your drive too fast, they made a horrifying billboard. A dummy is pierced through the billboard. The billboard says: “This could be your body”.

In the coldest winter since decades blush Berlin offers a “jump start” to passer-bys to warm up frozen emotions with hot lingerie. The poster is an original work of art on a big street in the midst of Berlin.

Today we present you something completely different. When advertisers put out billboards there are also some risks involved with it. People can alter them, some call it vandalism others call it street art. The last few years this new art form popped out on streets all over the world. One of the most influencing artists in this world is without a doubt Banksy. The Londoner has been inspiring artists all over the world. In this example you can see how street art can influence outdoor advertising. An artist called Monotremu glued a message on this billboard resembling a warning on a cigarette package. The translation says: “Santa Claus Doesn’t Exist”. The message was probably removed after a couple of hours, but the pictures are timeless.

DAS is a company that provides legal insurance, the tagline for DAS is “The answer to all things you didn’t ask for”. To illustrate what they do they placed different billboards in places where you don’t want them to be.

Sanitary napkin brand Butterfly made a nice wordplay with WikiLeaks. This billboard in Karachi Pakistan says: WikiLeaks, Butterfly Doesn’t. Should somebody reply with: Hopefully not too much blood will be spilled?

Everyone knows the legend that eating carrots improves your eyesight. With this billboard the advertising agency is implying you need to eat more carrots from HAK if you can’t read the message. The billboard probably isn’t that effective for by passers but the idea is great.

The last few months we’ve seen some really creative stuff done with billboards. First there was the billboard carved in wood, after this we found a billboard that was completely drawn by hand. And now again we have a hand-drawn billboard, the backlight gives a really good touch to the concept.

The following busstop advertisement is made for Swedish Tennis Veterans. Advertising agency Volt in Sweden came up with this nice idea to shave a tennisball bald, only leaving hair on the sides, like it is an old man.