TOSAT: The Toronto Street Advertising Takeover

The Toronto Street Advertising Takeover  (TOSAT) August 23rd, 2010

http://www.publicadcampaign.com/tosat/

http://duspacollective.org/tosat/

Toronto, August 23, 2010- Toronto’s DuSpa Corner Collective and New
York City’s Public Ad Campaign reclaimed and beautified 100 illegal
advertisements throughout the downtown core. Armed with artwork from
across the globe, the groups targeted the illegal ad-boxes and
billboards of advertising giants Pattison Outdoor, CBS, and Astral
Media.

The action, called the Toronto Street Ad Take Over (TOSAT), involved 40
public space activists who replaced illegal commercial ads with works
created by artists in Paris, Madrid, London, Berlin, Atlanta, New York, and
locally in Toronto.

The action comes just days before City Council votes on a proposed $7
per-capita funding increase for Toronto’s culture and art spheres,
income made available by the Billboard Tax. The Tax is estimated to
pry $10.4 million from outdoor ad companies which will fund city projects. Currently, Pattison is among the group of ad companies that is suing the city of Toronto over the new billboard tax.

“We sent a message that our streets can be beautiful
when we engage with them and they’re not illegally owned by commercial
advertisers. TOSAT is a reminder that public space is still public space,
and illegal ads will not survive if we don’t want them to.”

http://www.publicadcampaign.com/tosat/

http://duspacollective.org/tosat/