Today, a group of undergraduates did this (more pictures here, here, and here) to Yale's cross-campus, the busy sidewalk in front of the main library. They
painted the whole area with a bright Yale blue and white Louis Vuitton® signature print--easily the
most pretentious thing I'd seen yet here at Yale. My first thought was that this was
trademark dilution in advertising for some unrelated event. I expected this article to be about
Vuitton's fiercely
policed trademark. But it turns out this was just a tasteless advertisement, guerilla
trademark enhancement if you will. (continued...)
I talked to five of the students (out of about a dozen I saw), so what
follows is an only slightly stylized combination of their answers.
The students were wearing quite well-made white T-shirts with the four Vuitton icons on the back
and the 'LV' logo on the front with the caption "Save Louis." Some were also wearing ribbons in brown. Interestingly, the "Save Louis" slogan had no intellectual property markings. I asked if this was really a campaign to
save the European luxury brand.
Me: (sounding concerned) Is it really going under?
Two Students: (laughing smugly) No No. Of course not.
Me: So you're getting paid?
Student 1: Not really.
Student 2: No, this is a creative campaign across the country at all kinds of schools to
raise awareness.
Raise awareness? What a great buzzword for guerilla advertising. These students were
raising awareness of a brand that has continually skyrocketing profits, and
for free! Brilliant plan, Louis; I have to give you that. The Yale group's creative plan
was to have Vuitton manufacture (quite nice) custom stencils so they could paint the most
prominent public area at this non-profit institution with the Louis Vuitton® print.
Me: Why are y'all painting this?
Student 3: We're raising awareness of this issue. (I assume by issue, this student meant
trademark or brand.)
Me: (skeptically) So this is an ad?
Student 3: Well, I guess you could think of it as that.
Me: (nicely) So Yale approved it?
Student 3: It's just chalk.
Wrong answer. A billboard made of chalk is still a billboard. I guess
the folks at Vuitton think you can write anything you want, wherever you want, as long as
it is chalk. They must have missed Part K of the Student Organization Regulations.
No undergraduate may undertake to represent any commercial interest or to operate any business on the campus without securing prior permission from the dean of Student Affairs.
At writing this, I hadn't gotten a response from the dean, but I sincerely doubt she approved advertising of this scale. (Update 4/26: Dean Trachtenburg in fact did not authorize this display). Most chalkings in this area, and they are frequent, involve a bucket of half-used
sidewalk chalk and announce some event, like a poetry reading, movie showing, protest, rally, lecture, etc. The Vuitton chalking process involved two buckets, and at least three spray-on
substances for each stencil.This was a professional advertising operation that didn't even benefit the school in the way other advertising, for example sponsorship in school papers, does. I fear the kind of advertising it may herald. Yale has plenty more spaces to chalk, tons more sidewalk and even brick, and plenty of students to do it. Why not chalk the whole school? When it rains, just go out the next day with your Pepsi® stencil again. Maybe this time you can get the space Coke® got last time.
Update (4/27, 2:30 PM): It has been raining for hours. It seems all of New Haven is a giant puddle except this ad, standing strong albeit a bit blurred. Whatever this is, it is not just chalk.
Update (4/28): This lovely piece of spin was forwarded to me today. You too can get a quality response by e-mailing the organizers at savelouisvuitton@gmail.com:
The Save Louis Vuitton project on Cross Campus was a successfull attempt to
demonstrate our support for Louis Vuitton and spread awareness. Louis
Vuitton, one of the world's leading luxury brands, has only opened 23 new
stores and increased net profits by 50% in the last year. We hope you will
join in support of Louis Vuitton and that you enjoyed the project.
Update (4/29): Even two days of rain couldn't destroy this ad (more here and here).
Update (5/5): Eight days and three days of rain and the ad is still going strong.