Recent Billboard Liberation Front project in New York City

Somehow, I missed this Billboard Liberation Front improvement project that took place in New York City on September 30th. Fortunately though, BLF founder and BB pal Jack Napier updated me as to the various BLF efforts currently underway, including a planned documentary film directed by Olivier "Dust & Illusions" Bonin! As all of the BLF's projects, this one at the corner of 38th Street and 8th Avenue is an instant classic. The BLF dramatically enhanced the Stella Artois messaging simply by removing the words "of beauty." From the BLF:

We at the BLF have been assisting fatigued advertising copywriters to strengthen their corporate messages for over thirty years. Advertising is the language of our Culture, as BLF CEO Jack Napier noted almost as many years ago. And the primary use of language is to to communicate ideas. The most efficient and direct communication of an idea comes through the most elegant use of the least amount of words to communicate that idea. It’s quite clear from the image in this Stella Artois billboard ad what the message IS. The BLF merely wishes to assist this campaign by paring down the words in order to match that message most perfectly.

"Stella Artois, A Thing of Beauty" (Thanks, Jack Napier!)

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Trent Hawkins

Worst viral campaign for a prequel ever!
Roger Wilco

I appreciate the BLF’s work but I gotta side with Doc Sarvis on this one – the best kind of billboard is one that has been burned to the ground.
Anonymous

Nobody holds a glass of beer like that. Enough said.
- EH
  
  Nobody holds a glass of beer like that. Enough said.
  
  blur your eyes a bit, she’s not actually holding a beer.
narddogz

The best billboard modification I ever saw was in Portland, OR on the west side of the Ross Island bridge.

The billboard originally read

CALCIUM. IT’S MY OBSESSION.

but someone whited out the C, A, L and I in “calcium”.

What made it an epic win was that the model in the billboard was sporting a thick milk mustache.
debcha

Anon, #10: “Although, ‘A thing of beauty’ is a common phrase and can be applied to man, woman or any object….Especially as they’re actually referring to the lager.”

That’s pretty disingenuous: a quick scroll through the first few pages of Google results suggests that ‘a thing of beauty’ is mostly used to describe things, infrequently used for women, and its use in describing men is vanishingly rare.

But while you might refer to a woman as ‘a thing of beauty’ you wouldn’t normally refer to a beer as ‘she,’ at least not in English. And since the ‘point’ of the ad is the confusion between the beer and the woman, I think the BLF modification is brilliant, for precisely their stated reasons.
BookGuy

I ended up repeatedly staring at this very ad during a wait in Boston’s South Station becuase I found the female model’s pose so fantastically awkward that it was almost hypnotizing. I know it’s all about showing the product name, but it would have been less strange if the glass was shown sticking out of her (admittedly awesome) hairdo.
maturin

YEAH!!!!! SCREW YOU KEATS!!!!!

A thing of beauty is a joy for ever:
Its loveliness increases; it will never
Pass into nothingness; but still will keep
A bower quiet for us, and a sleep
Full of sweet dreams, and health, and quiet breathing.
Therefore, on every morrow, are we wreathing
A flowery band to bind us to the earth,
Spite of despondence, of the inhuman dearth
Of noble natures, of the gloomy days,
Of all the unhealthy and o’er-darkened ways
Made for our searching: yes, in spite of all,
Some shape of beauty moves away the pall
From our dark spirits. Such the sun, the moon,
Trees old, and young, sprouting a shady boon
For simple sheep; and such are daffodils
With the green world they live in; and clear rills
That for themselves a cooling covert make
‘Gainst the hot season; the mid-forest brake,
Rich with a sprinkling of fair musk-rose blooms:
And such too is the grandeur of the dooms
We have imagined for the mighty dead;
All lovely tales that we have heard or read:
An endless fountain of immortal drink,
Pouring unto us from the heaven’s brink.
nutbastard

I don’t get it. Is the BLF accentuating some sort of misperceived misogyny? Is that what this is?
Teller

“She is a thing of booty” might’ve deserved a whiteout.

As far as the beer, just have men screaming “STEL-LA!!” and move on.
Gloria

Reminds me of the Stella commercial from a while ago … a split-screen of a bartender pouring a beer and a woman getting out of her bath and dressing. Well-shot, sort of clever, but vaguely creepy all the same.
Gainclone

That thing. She is that thing.
WhyBother

“The most efficient and direct communication of an idea comes through the most elegant use of the least amount of words to communicate that idea.”

OR

“Efficient, direct communication uses the fewest, most elegant words.”

Also, words use number (hence “fewest”) not amount (“least amount”). Half of a sheep is a non-sheep. If you clip the “p” off of “clip,” the remaining “cli” is not 3/4th of a word: it is a non-word.
Anonymous

Although, ‘A thing of beauty’ is a common phrase and can be applied to man, woman or any object.

I like it none the less, however I don’t think it’s much of a powerful message as they think in this case.

Especially as they’re actually referring to the lager.
Knurm

Pretty clever, but it kind of bums me out at the same time – that Stella campaign is absolute utter genius as far as I’m concerned. Sad to see it vandalized.
The Thompson Five

I also ran into this one at South Station and was transfixed by it as well. Mainly because the people look so elegant, and the beer is so shitty. I was just enjoying the juxtaposition I suppose.
dvdsweeney

“He treats objects like women, man.”
- The Dude.
Donald Petersen

As David Clennon memorably said, “You gotta be f***in’ kidding.”
blueelm

That is beauty.
TimDrew

Cute, but I would call this a fail. She looks nothing like The Thing- her skin is way too smooth.
- Donald Petersen
  
  Naw, it ain’t clobberin’ time. It’s tentacles-shooting-out-of-her-ears time in about three seconds…
fnc

She is a thing…with a gigantic head.