‘Brandalism’ ads stuck up on London Underground by Special Patrol Group

“Brandalism” ads have been stuck up on the London Underground by a group that says Londoners must be protected from “visual pollution” – namely outdoor advertising.

The collective, which calls itself the Special Patrol Group, appears to want Sadiq Khan to ban all outdoor advertising.

Its campaign involves replacing regular ads with alternative, supposedly subversive ones, known by the clunky moniker “subverts”.

These state: “Advertising sh*ts in your head. It is a form of psychological pollution #AdvertisingSh*tsInYourHead”

A petition by someone called Vyvian Raoul states: “We’re calling on Mayor of London Sadiq Khan to follow his fellow mayors in Sao Paulo and Grenoble and take action to ban outdoor advertising – or, at very least, place restrictions on it (in the same way that there are restrictions on other things that have harmful effects).

“We welcome his intervention on sexist advertising, but we’re asking him to go further.

“Sadiq has pledged to take action against air pollution in the capital: will he take action to protect Londoners from harmful visual pollution too?”

Ironically, the activists have also produced a slick online advertisement to promote their cause.

Earlier this year Mayor Khan announced that he was banning ads which he deemed could cause women body confidence issues – a decision critics said was akin to censorship.