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Graffiti and Advertising Battling it Out

Every time I ride the rocket between Keele and Dundas West stations, I can't help but stare out the windows in hopes of catching a glimpse of new graffiti on the back alley walls. About a week ago I noticed that there was a new addition, but surprisingly not of the street art variety. Instead two new Canadian Tire advertisements had been introduced into the mix, and rather haphazardly so. Someone had either made some poor measurements, or simply weren't concerned about the bit of graffiti that were covered by the new ads.

In passing today, I found that someone had indeed taken exception to the placement of the ads, and despite them being well above arms reach, ripped them off the brick and left them in a sad heap on the ground. I often see graffiti being removed from walls, but it's more of a rarity to see graffiti and corporate advertisements duking it out like this. I'm not a forensics expert nor am I a scorekeeper, but based on the evidence I'm going to have to call this one like I see it: Graffiti 1, Canadian Tire 0.

I find it interesting that the company logo was left intact. Perhaps it's irrelevant/coincidental or perhaps the ad remover wanted to keep observers aware of the intruder - I suppose we'll never know for sure.

Also worth mentioning is that I think at least one of the two ads was an attempt at humour... it might have read something along the lines of "Aisle 10, Art Supplies".

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