A disused building on Bell Street in 1976 almost opposite Bell Street Motors - geograph

Flyposting (also known as wild posting or bill posting) is a guerrilla marketing tactic where advertising

poster A poster is a large sheet that is placed either on a public space to promote something or on a wall as decoration. Typically, posters include both textual and graphic elements, although a poster may be either wholly graphical or wholly text. ...

s are put up. In the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., federal district, five ma ...

, these posters are also commonly referred to as wheatpaste posters because

wheatpaste Wheat paste (also known as flour and water paste, flour paste, or simply paste) is a gel or liquid adhesive made from wheat flour or starch and water. It has been used since antiquity for various arts and crafts such as book binding, découpage ...

is often used to adhere the posters. Posters are adhered to construction site

barricades Barricade (from the French '' barrique'' - 'barrel') is any object or structure that creates a barrier or obstacle to control, block passage or force the flow of traffic in the desired direction. Adopted as a military term, a barricade den ...

, building façades and in alleyways.

Advertisement posters

The posters used are typically made of a lightweight paper and printed using flexography, digital printing and

screen printing Screen printing is a printing technique where a mesh is used to transfer ink (or dye) onto a substrate, except in areas made impermeable to the ink by a blocking stencil. A blade or squeegee is moved across the screen to fill the open me ...

. Modern printing techniques enable the posters to feature full-colour designs, halftones, and photographs, making them popular for advertising concerts, political messages, commercial advertisements and special events. An increasing number of posters do not advertise anything at all and instead feature artwork, inspirational or positive messages, and religious messages. It is an advertising tactic mostly used by small businesses promoting concerts and

political activist A political movement is a collective attempt by a group of people to change government policy or social values. Political movements are usually in opposition to an element of the status quo, and are often associated with a certain ideology. Some ...

groups, but there have been occasions where international companies subcontracted local advertising agencies for flyposting jobs in order not to get caught in illegal behavior, as a form of guerrilla marketing. In 2004,

Sony Music Sony Music Entertainment (SME), also known as simply Sony Music, is an American multinational music company. Being owned by the parent conglomerate Sony Group Corporation, it is part of the Sony Music Group, which is owned by Sony Entertainmen ...

and

BMG BMG may refer to: Organizations * Music publishing companies: ** Bertelsmann Music Group, a 1987–2008 division of Bertelsmann that was purchased by Sony on October 1, 2008 *** Sony BMG, a 2004–2008 joint venture of Bertelsmann and Sony that wa ...

were threatened with anti-social behaviour orders by Camden Borough Council for illegal flyposting.

Legislation

In many countries, it is illegal to place such posters on private property without the consent of the property owner, or to post on

public property Public property is property that is dedicated to public use. The term may be used either to describe the use to which the property is put, or to describe the character of its ownership (owned collectively by the population of a state). This is in ...

without a sign permit from the local government. Some areas, however, have public

bulletin board A bulletin board (pinboard, pin board, noticeboard, or notice board in British English) is a surface intended for the posting of public messages, for example, to advertise items wanted or for sale, announce events, or provide information. B ...

s where notices may be posted. In an effort to discourage illegal flyposting, surfaces at risk of it are sometimes permanently signed Post No Bills (US), No Flyposting (UK), or in France Défense d'afficher - loi du 29 juillet 1881, referring to a law. While flyposting is commonplace, it is often viewed as a nuisance by

landlord A landlord is the owner of a house, apartment, condominium, land, or real estate which is rented or leased to an individual or business, who is called a tenant (also a ''lessee'' or ''renter''). When a juristic person is in this position, ...

s and they can take civil action to protect their

property right The right to property, or the right to own property (cf. ownership) is often classified as a human right for natural persons regarding their possessions. A general recognition of a right to private property is found more rarely and is typically ...

s. A particularly noteworthy incident of this type occurred in Boston, Massachusetts. In the case of the

2007 Boston Mooninite Scare On the morning of January 31, 2007, the Boston Police Department and the Boston Fire Department mistakenly identified battery-powered LED placards depicting the Mooninites, characters from the Adult Swim animated television series ''Aqua Teen H ...

, advertisers had placed electronic signboards without notifying local authorities, prompting a costly reaction by the Boston Police Bomb Squad when the signs were mistaken for bombs.

Web banner

With the rise of the

World Wide Web The World Wide Web (WWW), commonly known as the Web, is an information system enabling documents and other web resources to be accessed over the Internet. Documents and downloadable media are made available to the network through web se ...

, much of advertising has been shifted online. Some

advertising agencies An advertising agency, often referred to as a creative agency or an ad agency, is a business dedicated to creating, planning, and handling advertising and sometimes other forms of promotion and marketing for its clients. An ad agency is generall ...

have drawn similarities between flyposting and certain types of

adware Adware, often called advertising-supported software by its developers, is software that generates revenue for its developer by automatically generating online advertisements in the user interface of the software or on a screen presented to the ...

, which are more invasive to

consumers A consumer is a person or a group who intends to order, or uses purchased goods, products, or services primarily for personal, social, family, household and similar needs, who is not directly related to entrepreneurial or business activities. ...

References

{{Spamming Graffiti and unauthorised signage Spamming Marketing techniques

Advertisement posters

Legislation

Web banner

See also

References