Editing Subvertising (section)

==Notable instances==

In 1972, the logo of Richard Nixon's re-election campaign posters was subverted with two x's in Nixon's name (as in the [[Exxon]] logo) to suggest the corporate ownership of the Republican Party.<ref>{{Cite magazine |date=March 5, 1973 |title=Exxon Victorious |magazine=Time |url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,903902,00.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080205043902/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,903902,00.html |archive-date=February 5, 2008}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Sore-Loserman: From political parody to charity's windfall. CNN. 4 Dec. 2000 |url=http://edition.cnn.com/2000/ALLPOLITICS/stories/12/04/stickers.election/ |access-date=2014-03-29 |publisher=Archives.cnn.com}}</ref>

In [[Sydney]], [[Australia]] in October 1979, a group of anti-smoking activists formed a group called [[Billboard Utilising Graffitists Against Unhealthy Promotions|B.U.G.A.U.P.]] and began altering the text on tobacco billboards to subvert the messages of tobacco advertisers, although advertisements for other unhealthy products were also targeted.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Civil Disobedience and Tobacco Control: The Case of BUGA UP, Simon Chapman |url=https://www.crossart.com.au/images/pdfs/Buga%20Up-Simon%20Chapman-1996.pdf |access-date=6 December 2019 |publisher=Tobacco Control Vol. 5, No. 3, 1996}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=McIntyre |first=Iain |date=2019-04-10 |title=BUGA-UP - Billboard Utilising Graffitists Against Unhealthy Promotions |url=https://commonslibrary.org/buga-up/ |access-date=2023-03-02 |website=The Commons Social Change Library |language=en-AU}}</ref>

On November 6, 2008, [[The Yes Men]] recruited thousands of social activists to hand out 100,000 copies of a spoof ''New York Times'' newspaper set six months in the future.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Chan |first=Sewell |date=2008-11-12 |title=Liberal Pranksters Hand Out Times Spoof |url=https://archive.nytimes.com/cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/11/12/pranksters-spoof-the-times/ |access-date=2024-01-17 |website=City Room |language=en}}</ref> The goal was to utilize a tangible and trusted medium, the ''New York Times'', to argue for a particular future, in that case, one where the [[Iraq War]] had ended. Other groups involved with this project included [[Steve Lambert|Anti-Advertising Agency]], [[Code Pink]], [[United for Peace and Justice]], [[May First/People Link]], and [[Improv Everywhere]].{{Citation needed|date=April 2019}}

At the 2015 Paris COP21 climate conference, the collective known as [[Brandalism]] installed 600 posters that attacked what they perceived as the hypocrisy of corporate sponsors.<ref name="cnn.com">{{Cite web |date=23 March 2018 |title=The hackers using street ads to protest |url=https://edition.cnn.com/style/article/subvertising-ads-posters-billboards/index.html}}</ref>

In 2017, Brandalism and other groups of subvertisers founded the collective Subvertisers International.<ref>{{Cite web |first=Kieron |last=Monks |title='Subvertising' hackers are using street ads to protest |url=https://www.cnn.com/style/article/subvertising-ads-posters-billboards/index.html |access-date=2020-08-15 |website=CNN |date=23 March 2018 |language=en}}</ref> Using billboard hacking and other forms of subvertising, they promote the idea that advertising creates unhealthy body images, impacts democracy negatively, and sustains a culture of [[consumerism]] that takes a heavy toll on the planet.

Around 2018, a group in London called Legally Black changed the race of the characters in Harry Potter posters from white to black.<ref name="cnn.com" />

In 2022, billboards in London, Bristol, Manchester, Sheffield, Brighton, and 11 other European cities, were hijacked to highlight the role of airline emissions in the [[climate crisis]]. They highlighted the large [[carbon footprint]] of flying, that the majority of flights are taken by a tiny fraction of the total population, and that airlines have missed all but one of the industry’s self-imposed [[sustainability]] targets.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2022-09-22 |title=Activists subvert poster sites to shame aviation and ad industries |url=https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2022/sep/22/activists-subvert-poster-sites-aviation-ad-industries-airline-emissions-climate-crisis |access-date=2022-09-23 |website=the Guardian |language=en}}</ref>

In January 2025, German police began investigating the distribution of political fliers from the far{{nbhyph}}right [[Alternative für Deutschland]] party that closely resembled airline tickets and targeted "illegal immigrants".  The fliers were placed in the mailboxes of people living in immigrant areas. [[Karlsruhe]] criminal police said they are seeking "persons unknown on suspicion of incitement of racial hatred".<ref name="cole-2025">
{{cite news
 | last1 = Cole | first1 = Deborah
 | title = German police investigate AfD flyers resembling plane tickets for immigrants
 | date = 14 January 2025
 | work = The Guardian
 | location = London, United Kingdom
 | issn = 0261-3077
 | url = https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/jan/14/german-police-investigate-afd-flyers-resembling-plane-tickets-for-immigrants
 | access-date = 2025-01-15
}}
</ref>