People are taking the piss out of you everyday. They butt into your
life, take a cheap shot at you and then disappear. They leer at you from
tall buildings and make you feel small. They make flippant comments
from buses that imply you’re not sexy enough and that all the fun is
happening somewhere else. They are on TV making your girlfriend feel
inadequate. They have access to the most sophisticated technology the
world has ever seen and they bully you with it. They are The Advertisers
and they are laughing at you.
You, however, are forbidden to touch them. Trademarks, intellectual
property rights and copyright law mean advertisers can say what they
like wherever they like with total impunity.
Fuck that. Any advert in a public space that gives you no choice
whether you see it or not is yours. It’s yours to take, re-arrange and
re-use. You can do whatever you like with it. Asking for permission is
like asking to keep a rock someone just threw at your head.
You owe the companies nothing. Less than nothing, you especially
don’t owe them any courtesy. They owe you. They have re-arranged the
world to put themselves in front of you. They never asked for your
permission, don’t even start asking for theirs.
-Banksy, street artist
