Disclaimer for the feds: Incite, Conspire, Inspire is a solely-for-fun section never designed to give real advice. The tools, tactics, and ideas given in the series are only meant to entertain. We would never dream of anyone using any of these tools as a form of dissent, and we do not promote, partake in, or condone any illegal activities that might derive from said tools.
You don’t always have to carry a 6-sheet poster with you if you want to do some ad hacks. For a quick, opportunistic, and on-the-go kit that you can easily fit in your bag, you’ll need:
A marker: the bigger, the better
H60 security pin
Tx30
Four-way utility key
Once you’ve done a quick scan to make sure there’s no cops or security around, you can locate the lock. The placement depends on the model, but usually you’ll find it in the bottom corner or middle on the side of the ad. Once you’ve located the lock, take a look and see which of your tools you’ll need. Often, you’ll be able to just pop open the ad with one tool, but sometimes the first lock will just open a panel and you’ll have to locate the keyhole. Remember, some ads open incredibly easily while others are fiddly and mechanisms can be rusty and stiff. Just take a breath and keep trying.
Now that you’ve opened the ad, you can pull the perspex door back as far as it’ll go and start making changes to the existing ad, turn it around and use the other side, or get rid of it entirely.
Brandalism has this great PDF if you want to do some further reading:
http://brandalism.ch/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/Bus_Stop_Ad_Hack_Tutorial_web.pdf
The website ‘Public Access’ tells you the exact tool you need to open the advertisement screens in your city.
http://www.publicadcampaign.com/PublicAccess/Index.html
You should be able to find all the tools you’ll need at your local hardware store.
Good luck reclaiming public spaces from advertisers.
