Last week, during my trip to Paris, I came across a striking wall mural with bold black letters on a white background. The words questioned whether it was an art piece or an advertisement for oat drink.
It stood out against the tan-colored buildings in the historic Beaubourg district, so I captured a photo. Upon returning a few days later, I found the mural had been tagged from top to bottom, possibly by someone with a can of red spray paint.
The graffiti could be interpreted as a commentary on the limits of meta advertising. It was part of Oatly’s outdoor ad campaign in Paris, aiming to challenge local restrictions on wall murals and blur the lines between advertising and art.
Paris takes visual pollution seriously, and wall murals with product images or logos are typically not allowed. Oatly’s workaround involved including only the lettering itself on the murals and adding product images via separate objects, allowing for a forced-perspective effect when viewed from certain angles.
Regardless of opinions on this advertising approach, the campaign was original and clever. It faced the challenge of complying with local regulations and generated content suited for the social media era, resulting in widespread praise on social platforms.
However, from personal experience and the reaction of graffiti artists defacing Oatly’s ads, it’s clear that the campaign did not resonate with everyone in Paris.
The local response emphasized the reasoning behind Paris’s mural restrictions, aiming to protect the city and its inhabitants from intrusive brand advertising. Many questioned why the ads weren’t in French and who the ads were ultimately targeting.
Oatly, however, remains unfazed by the criticisms and defacement. The brand lead for Oatly France acknowledged the overwhelmingly positive response to the campaign and brushed off the graffiti as a natural part of advertising on city walls.
