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12 Comments

news

Stupid? You Could Call It That

By David Topping

20100809diesel.jpg
The Diesel ad on the side of the Rex, earlier in August, being put up. Photo by Nancy Paiva/Torontoist.


Diesel’s most recent ad campaign is stupid. The company’ll readily admit it: “Be Stupid” is the whole hook. Ads beg consumers to “Think Less. Stupid More.” Others warn that “There’s no cure for stupid.”
Stupider still, though, is the massive ad on the wall of the Rex at Queen West and St. Patrick streets—an ad that, according to sign-hunter Rami Tabello, is “totally illegal.”


The ad was put up by Strategic Media, but Director Daniel Pitoscia maintains it’s not illegal in the slightest. “The permit for the sign pre-dates the sign by-laws which came into effect this past April,” he told Torontoist; that permit, Pitoscia continued, allows for “a mural sign 225.2 meters square.”
Diesel’s ad, however, is not exclusively a mural: the bulk of the ad is painted directly onto the wall, but about a third of it—most of the section that reads “Stupid is good for you”—is painted onto a thin canvas on top of the wall. Vinyl mesh covers the building’s west-facing windows, and it’s painted on top of that, too.
Tabello explains that the ad is too large (that’s strike one against it), obscures windows (strike two), and is in part made of vinyl (strike three). A smaller, hand-painted sign that didn’t obscure windows would be allowed at the Rex, but only because of a permit issued for the address in the 1990s—the permit Pitoscia cited.
Reached for comment, Heidi Pekofsky, Diesel’s Canadian sales and marketing director, said that her company’s not happy. Diesel’s ads may be firmly pro-stupid, but “we don’t do anything that’s not legit,” she explained. “I’m shocked that they would sell us something illegal.”
According to Ange Kinnear, Executive Assistant to Councillor Adam Vaughan (Ward 20, Trinity-Spadina), a complaint about the Rex’s sign has been forwarded to City staff, and is being worked on. Right now, she also noted, a sign variance compliance unit tasked with keeping illegal ads off the streets is in the midst of hiring enforcement officers.
“We’ll get this taken down,” Tabello insists. “It’s just a matter of time.”

Comments

  • http://undefined Dry Brain

    Geez. Also, at 617 College St, right next door to my house, an entire storefront has been rented out for a Telus ad. It’s not a future Telus store, it’s all advertising. I have no reason to think it’s illegal. It’s just obnoxious.

  • http://undefined bigdaddyhame

    That permit from the 1990′s was probably for the Levi’s Silver Tab campaign that pretty much wrapped the entire REX building in silver and black, integrating painted, vinyl and ‘floating’ wood elements. The permit (if it is still valid, which it might just be) would include all of those mediums. Those with long memories such as myself can recall much of Queen St. West’s ad spaces being taken up by the massive Silver Tab buy that summer.
    As to the mesh “obscuring” windows – that’s subjective – the mesh is typically designed to be transparent from the inside, opaque on the outside – similar to the vinyl wraps you see on buses and streetcars.
    It will be interesting to see how this one plays out.

  • http://undefined raptorrob

    Wow, thank goodness we have people willing to save this city, one slightly illegal advertising campaign at a time. I can’t wait for the day when I can walk down the street without being reminded I’m in a capitalist urban centre.

  • http://undefined John Semley

    great Jeff Foxworthy reference.

  • http://www.blog.canoe.ca/canoedossier David Newland

    I always get a kick out of the way Torontoist supports one form of illegal signage, graffiti, while decrying another.
    Personally I’m not a fan of either.
    Anyway is the point of this the illegality of the ad, or the stupidity of its content?
    Cuz if it’s the latter, isn’t it best just to ignore it? They obviously are counting on the attention.

  • http://undefined Taylor

    If it was Che Guevara on a red background something tells me you wouldn’t have complained.
    It’s their property, let them advertise as they see fit.

  • http://www.torontoist.com David Topping

    If it was Che Guevara on a red background something tells me you wouldn’t have complained.
    You are amazing. Please comment more.

  • http://www.michaeljeremybrown.ca/ Michael Brown

    Hmmm, “Stupid is good for you”…How ironic that this ad campaign is being launched in the middle of the Toronto Mayoral race? This same message I seem to be getting every time I pick up a Blatchford or Levy column.

  • http://undefined Peter

    Guess it’s official. Being stupid really is cool. I’ve suspected it for years – increasingly vapid youth, reality TV, Paris Hilton. Let’s all just dumb-down & party in our Diesel jeans! Yay.

  • http://undefined rek

    Billboard permits aside, I’m saddened by this campaign. Diesel’s 2007 Global Warming Ready campaign was thought-provoking and beautifully executed. This is just stu— dumb, it’s dumb.

  • http://undefined David C

    The only Stupid person showcased in this story is the writer David Topping. This sign has been confirmed to be 100% legal by the city of Toronto. Had David taken the time to do a little homework…and check with the city, he would have saved himself potential legal action.
    The Torontoist has been a long time supporter of The self proclaimed sign-hunter Rami Tabello and his now SUSPENDED website “illegalsigns.ca” The interesting part about this incestuous relationship is that they use terms like illegal to describe these signs when they have no right to do so. What is illegal or not is decided by the courts the last time I checked.
    I think that you also need to keep this in perspective….Their claim of illegal is the same as you installing an electrical outlet or basement apartment without a permit that wasn’t done exactly to code.
    This is why you don’t have a real job doing investigative reporting David.
    At least try to get the facts right little guy.

  • http://www.michaeljeremybrown.ca/ Michael Brown

    Rob Ford won…the gravy train is coming to an end…fat is the new black…Toronto is about to morph from Leaf Nation to Argo Nation…the revolution has begun…time to have a few beers and celebrate??