The San Francisco City Attorney has written an open letter demanding that Justin Bieber’s record label cooperate in putting an end to a graffiti ad campaign after hundreds of complaints from residents.
It seems that the graffiti – like Biebs – just won’t go away as it was intended to promote his newest album – released on November 13 – but is still on the streets over a month later.
According to Buzzfeed Dennis Herrera addressed the letter to Def Jam CEO Steve Bartels and Universal Music General Counsel and EVP Jeffrey Harleston, and warned them that the city of San Francisco could pursue civil penalties of up to $2,500 (£1,700) for each of the dozens of violations.
Mr Herrera said the ‘guerilla’ marketing campaign was illegal and exploitative and that it could cause distractions and pose risks to pedestrians. He also claimed the campaign affected tourism and sent a message to local youths that “likeminded lawlessness and contempt for public property are condoned and encouraged by its beneficiaries – including Mr. Bieber and the record labels that produce and promote him.”
San Francisco Public Works received weeks of complaints about the graffiti as, unlike other similar campaigns that were done with chalk, some genius seems to have been plugging Bieber with permanent spray paint. Though the promotion for the late 2015 release involved graffiti campaigns all over the world, including New York, Paris, London, and Berlin no other cities have taken action against Bieber or his label.
However Mr Herrera feels something must be done:
As City Attorney, I take the illegal graffiti marketed for Bieber’s album seriously and I will aggressively pursue all available penalties and costs from those responsible.
Best of luck with that mate – I guess it’s too late for him to apologise…
