I know this subject is about as far from the dinner table as one can get, but I can't resist speaking out about it. This is close to home. In fact, it is our very neighborhood that is at stake.
As stated many times I live in the Heights and today as I was heading south on Durham towards I-10, just as I came over the overpass I saw this billboard.
I was, well, shocked. I guess that is the point.
This thing doesn't look like professional work. Or is that the idea? I want to give Clear Channel Outdoor the benefit of the doubt here. Certainly. They are most likely as much victims as the rest of this community. But someone took some time to manufacture and considerable risk to pull this off. This took more than the 4 or 5 minutes that the typical "tagging" type graffiti would take. How long did this stunt take and how did those responsible go unnoticed?
More than the destruction of property or violation of social code, and more than the fact that those responsible weren't caught in the act, I am outraged by the message. This is almost worse than the so-called "suicide" websites that have plagued the web for the last few years because viewing this is not voluntary. It is certainly more dangerous than your typical graffiti which is usually "gang" language that is illegible or meaningless to the average person.
"Give up" is not ambiguous or harmless, in this man's opinion. It needs to be removed.
Free speech is not lost on me. If this was a paid advertisement then I will certainly revise my position, but, if this was a paid use of Clear Channel ad space, then one certainly has to question why Clear Channel would accept this type of client. Why would Clear Channel risk facing the public outrage at publicizing such a useless social expression as the promotion and endorsement of suicide? Even further, who would pay for it? I have sent an email to Clear Channel asking for an explanation, but have not yet received a response.
No. I suspect that this is the work of vandals. Real vandals. Not teenagers with too much time and too little direction. This is an intentionally hurtful expression made by people with real intentions.
I say the sign needs to be removed. I suspect it will be and our local officials will hopefully catch and punish those responsible.
What do you think?
In case you haven't seen this anywhere else, the person responsible is a locally "famous" street artist. he makes this "give up" piece in different sizes, and wheat-pastes them around various spots around Houston. There are probably a good 20+ spots that he has "tagged." Someone has a website that has photos of him putting these on billboards, and from what I remember, he is always masked, so his identity is relatively secret (I saw the website over a year ago, so my memory could be off).
So, to answer your question, no it is not a ClearChannel advertisement, haha.
Posted by: Christopher Huang | 09/15/2009 at 02:27 PM