A Los Angeles-based ad company whose guerrilla marketing campaign for an online video game defaced public sidewalks in San Francisco with thousands of stickers in August will pay the city $45,000, the city attorney’s office announced today.
The city attorney’s office said in a statement that Davis Elen Advertising settled the case after admitting responsibility for gluing about 4,000 dollar-bill decals on sidewalks at 75 locations throughout the city to promote the game “Mafia Wars.”
City Attorney Dennis Herrera called the marketers “lawless vandals-for-hire.”
The game maker, San Francisco-based Zynga, did not know about the campaign, which was carried out by a subcontractor hired by Davis Elen Advertising, according to the city attorney’s office.
The city’s Department of Public Works spent nearly $2,000 using steam-cleaning equipment to remove the vandalism, but halted the effort when David Elen and the subcontractor agreed to remove the stickers themselves under threat of legal action, the city attorney’s office said.
Ari Burack, Bay City News
