Perhaps the Mission is unaware that the Black Eyed Peas have a new album? That the movie “Skyline,” about aliens who attack Los Angeles, is in theaters now? Lou Vitellaro makes sure you don’t forget.
She’s part of a little-seen and -understood crew that keeps the Mission posted on whatever advertisers feel the Mission should be informed of, with a mere stroke of her broom and a bucket of wheat paste. At 5:18 p.m. she is at the corner of 19th and Folsom, covering the face of Elvis with an advertisement for the Gold Nugget in Vegas.
Vitellaro is used to getting reactions from people passing by. “You would not believe the amounts of people who want to help. Especially the homeless. They want something to do.” She has learned to say no.
Her job is not as simple as it looks. You need a steady hand to create smooth surfaces, and dexterity. Some posters need to be pasted in a matter of seconds; if not, they fall apart. She’s not too happy about the poster she did before this one. Though it is not immediately apparent, she says, it is creased. Creases are the enemy. She reaches up with her push broom and tries to smooth it out a little more. It would be easy to mistake her for an artist, posting her own work, if it weren’t for the subject matter.
Vitellaro is a receiver for the Bay Area Bandits, an all-women tackle football team. Not many know about this competitive sport. What better way to spread the word than maybe put up a few of her own posters while she’s at it?
But for all its seeming informality (the legality of advertisements like these is the subject of some debate), the company that employs Vitellaro has strict rules about what its employees can post, and where. If caught, it would cost her her weekend job (during the week she works for a delivery company). Even though the posters she’s putting up now aren’t strictly necessary — no one has rented the space that she’s plastering this week, so she’s been told to plaster some filler over it so that the former tenant doesn’t get more eyeballs looking at their product than they have paid for.
This might seem unnecessary, even petty. But it doesn’t matter to Vitellaro. She’s excited about this last poster. It goes on smooth, because it’s a little stretchy.
and yet if you tag over these advertisements who havent paid for space its a crime. according to the company advertising it’s free space right?
If you’re selling a product or service, it’s acceptable. If you’re expressing artistic creativity, it’s a crime.
I so hate the appearance of wheatpasted advertising on practically every plywood construction site fence.
Why does Zeitgeist tolerate it?
I don’t see the moral difference between this and spraypaint stenciled sidewalk advertising.
Aaaaaaaaargh!
I wondered who was putting up these posters. Just had a conversation about the new Nelly Furtado ones. Thanks for the story!
Does anyone think that Lou Vitellaro isn’t a criminal? Why do we tolerate this crap? Perhaps as long as it’s not an ad for American Apparel, Chicken John won’t complain.