God help the poor Pepsi-loving soul who wanders through London over the next few weeks. The dreaded brand police are swarming the country in search of any signs of anyone mentioning or attempting to showcase any corporate entity that is a competitor to the official Olympics sponsors, and anyone who even so much as thinks of sponsor Coke’s biggest competitor should fear the consequences. But that's nothing compared to what Nike is staging: the brashest act of ambush marketing in the history of the Olympics Games. And we'll bet they get away with it because, well, it's Nike.Continue reading...

Move over Ashton Kutcher. The Yes Men are punking brands, as shown in the above trailer for The Yes Men Fix the World movie about Bhopal in 2009.

After it emerged that GE paid no federal taxes last year, a website popped up last week with a URL similar to GE’s press domain, (genewscenter.com) posted a fake press release titled, "GE Responds to Public Outcry – Will Donate Entire $3.2 Billion Tax Refund to Help Offset Cuts and Save American Jobs." The AP fell for it, and reported the story as news.Continue reading...

Banksy, the elusive British graffiti artist, followed up his late-summer BP spoof with another bit of media monkeywrenching last night — tweaking The Simpsons' opening sequence, which he storyboarded and supervised with the blessing of Fox and series creator Matt Groening.

Update: Apparently, Fox owner News Corp. wasn't in on the lovefest — the video has been removed from Banksy's YouTube channel due to a copyright claim by News Corp., but it is now available on Hulu ... if you live in the U.S.

British graffiti artist (and self-described art terrorist) Banksy is well-known for taking on brands such as Tesco, which he incorporates above (and has co-opted for an anti-Warhol soup can) or British Telecom, which he attacked by taking an axe to a phone box (BT took it in stride). His latest target is another British brand, BP, which he spoofs with a whole new spin on "pier pressure." Check it out after the jump.Continue reading...