by KYW's David Madden
A Texas-based brewing company is plastering ads in sections of Philadelphia in apparent violation of zoning codes. A local group is looking to get them taken down, but is getting nowhere with the company.
You may have seen the ads on walls in Queen Village (above), Fishtown, and Kensington for Pabst Blue Ribbon beer and Colt 45 malt liquor. Their content you can debate. Their placement you can’t, according to Nicole Seitz, top right, with the community activist group SCRUB (Society Created to Reduce Urban Blight):
"The most appropriate way to refer to them is as 'fake murals' and 'fake graffiti,' because what it is is illegal advertising."
She says the posters have been plastered on walls without proper permits or in areas where they’re not allowed.
If this sounds familiar, you may remember that Sony ran afoul of the law a couple of years ago when ads for their PSP handheld units went up on walls in parts of town. They were quickly taken down after word got out.
Seitz says she’s talked with Pabst Brewing Company, based in San Antonio, but hasn’t gotten too far with them.
Mary Tracy, executive director of SCRUB, said they are particularly offensive in a city known for murals of famous places and people, from Frank Sinatra to Malcolm X:
"Not only are people looking at it, but they are thinking about it. Some people in the city, who knows, maybe they thought it was another mural."
Jane Golden (bottom right) is director of the city's Mural Arts Program:
"I just think it's distasteful. I just think it's the last thing we need."
Philadelphia's Mural Arts Program is one of the largest public arts initiatives in the country. Golden said marketers might want to think twice if they had hoped to capitalize on Philadelphia's reputation for murals:
"They shouldn't underestimate the intelligence of Philadelphians."
She said that most people will know the difference between an ad and a mural.
Opponents say it's not necessarily about the content, but about where the ads are placed. The buildings simply are not zoned for such ads, Tracy of SCRUB said.
Seitz says the group knows of the two painted Colt 45 ads in Fishtown, as well as about seven other similar ads for Pabst Blue Ribbon beer. She said she believes the beer ads, wrapped around buildings, are part of an outdoor advertising campaign that solicited artwork.
The group has asked the city's Department of Licenses and Inspections to remove all of them.
Gayle Johns, a spokeswoman for the department, said the ads would be considered general outdoor advertising signs and would not be permitted under the zoning code.
By Thursday afternoon L&I had issued citations against Pabst Brewing and the owners of the properties where the ads are now posted, ordering their immediate removal. The matter will be referred to the courts if it is not addressed within a few days.
Last year, ads for Colt 45 were removed from the sides of city transit buses in response to community concerns. Inner-city activists across the country have long decried ads for malt liquor, which is similar to regular beer but with an alcohol content as high as 8 percent.
Jill Maguire, a mother of two who lives near one Fishtown ad, said she liked the artwork but hated the fact it was promoting the sale of alcohol where her 15-year-old daughter could see it:
"I really wouldn't want my daughter looking at it. She might think it's cool (and say) 'Mom, Dad, have you ever tried Colt
45?' "
(Top photo by KYW's Mike DeNardo)
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