Graffiti For Yuh Money

“Graffiti is one of the few tools you have if you have almost nothing. And even if you don't come up with a picture to cure world poverty you can make someone smile while they're having a piss.” - Banksy

Graffiti has been condemned by many to be an act of crime and vandalism. However, the presence of graffiti has increased over the years, the number of articles on graffiti has increased in popular magazines by 40% from the 1950's to 1970's (Ley and Cybriwsky, 1974).
The picture above illustrates how graffiti style art has become a tool of advertising. Graffiti has a captive audience, a condition it shares with advertising (Dovey et al.,2012). In my opinion, this style shown above has obviously emerged from real graffiti found all throughout P.O.S.  It makes sense to use graffiti style paintings on buildings as not only is it quite unique and eye catching, it also attracts a younger crowd to the place.

To borrow a past graffito: " Today's graffiti are tomorrow's headlines"  (Ley and Cybriwsky, 1974). A current trend that has emerged in the Global North is advertising using "clean graffiti or reverse graffiti". Upon much research, this trend is an environmentally friendly, low cost advertising solution that can reach hundreds if thousands of people in a day. Due to the lack of chemicals used, this form of advertising is biodegradable and have attracted large businesses such as Microsoft and BBC.
Through the emergence of graffiti as a form of advertising this trend has trickled down to Trinidad's advertising strategy. This is a direct indication of the impact that the global north and media has on the global south.

References:

• Kim, Dovey, Simon Wollan, and Ian Woodcock, 2012. "Placing Graffiti: Creating and Contesting Character in Inner-city Melbourne."
• Ley, D. and Cybriwsky, R., 1974. URBAN GRAFFITI AS TERRITORIAL MARKERS*. Annals of the Association of American Geographers, 64(4), pp.491--505.

  Related articles:

• http://www.reversegraffiti.co.uk/reverse-graffiti-advertising.html