PORTLAND, Ore. — Portland has made attracting a “young creative” class of hip, high-tech artists and knowledge workers a matter of civic policy. But it put its foot down on a guerrilla marketing tactic by an online classifieds company: hundreds of 2-by-4-foot chalk ads on the city streets.
A city official considers it vandalism. The city’s lawyers say Jobdango Inc. pulled the same stunt three years ago and was warned.
So the city has asked a judge to order Jobdango to pay the $5,446.44 it cost to power-wash and scrub the chalk away after the overnight ad blitz in September.
Jobdango says it did nothing illegal and has little to say beyond that. The Portland company markets a jobs classified service based in Oregon and Washington state. It’s a prolific advertiser — its name is common, for instance, on the city streets in the form of custom paint jobs on the Metro buses.
Guerrilla marketing tactics can be a matter of fine distinctions between what’s acceptable to the public and what’s legal, says an outside practitioner who offers both “permitted” options such as graffiti-like murals on leased walls or grayer “guerrilla” tactics.
Using such popular public venues as sidewalks and parks is a no-no guerrilla tactic, said Adam Salacuse, founder of Alt Terrain of Boston, which markets in 30 U.S. cities, including Portland.
“You don’t want to mess with that,” he said. “The goal of a guerrilla campaign is to do it in a way that people see it and enjoy it — and not ruffle feathers.”
Talk to us
> Give us your news tips.
> Send us a letter to the editor.
> More Herald contact information.
