Guerrilla Subway Ad Campaign Goes for Pride Over Prejudice
Who needs Pennsylvania Avenue when we have Madison Avenue?
The New York City subway system got an extra dose of fabulous last week, just in time for Pride Month. On the day that the White House ignored LGBTQ Pride on its list of official monthly proclamations, a group of advertising executives launched a guerrilla campaign to unofficially recognize Pride Month in the nation's busiest subway system.
Taking a cue from the service information bills posted throughout the subway system that inform over four million riders of any service interruptions or changes, Thomas Shim, a global creative director at Young & Rubicam, along with freelance art directors Ezequiel Console and Jack Welles, recreated the MTA notices with a special pride message.
The�trio used the various colors of the system's lines for a rainbow and copied�the MTA's font and messaging style. They also included the MTA's most common headers, "How does this affect my trip?" writing "It doesn't." For travel alternatives, the answer was "Sashay away."
"One thing that struck a chord with us was that�Donald Trump is probably never going to mention Pride Month," Shim told AdWeek. "It's been hitting us hard [amid] all this news about hate crimes."
"It's not just about the Pride Train; it's about the month and what it means to be a New Yorker," Shim continued. "I think we get a little complacent because we do live in a 'blue bubble."'