Street art "guerilla" campaign causes backlash from real street artists

Saatchi&Saatchi's new campaign for Sagatiba cachaça ain't going too well.

"The Man Behind The Curtain has been revealed. He drives a Jag and eats sushi."
-- The Londonist

When a documentary on BBC2 called "Inside Saatchi and Saatchi" revealed that the stencils appearing all over London were really an advertising campaign created by hip creatives the backlash didn't take long. When the 'Brazilian Jesus' appeared on the Woostercollective street art website, other street art fans to wrote in to explain that it wasn't "legit" street art at all and called for it's destruction. The brazilian jesus is now being plastered over with plain white posters, and painted over by other street artists wherever it may be found. Even The Times Online reports on this turf war going on between commercial art and street art in the heart of London.

D*Face, an artist and a curator at the Outside Institute gallery in Paddington, West London, said that artists were angry that an advertising agency had attempted to hijack an artform without investing in it.