Tuesday, July 29, 2025

When ads become art

Buy me, please
Toronto, ON
May 2025
This photo originally shared on Instagram


If advertising is a simple art - convince complete strangers to buy what you’re selling - the advertising industry has become a monstrously complex beast where countless ads scream ever more loudly at us to ensure they’re heard above the noise.

Most of them end up in the marketing equivalent of oblivion. We skip through them on our PVRs, hit the X button on our smartphones, or ignore them as we refill our tortilla bowls (please don’t judge; I was hungry.)

But every once in a while, someone figures out a subtly creative way to cut through the noise and be heard. Not by screaming, mind you. But by delivering their message in a way that doesn’t feel like they’re trying to sell us anything.

This mural would like to sell us a condo. But it masquerades as art, as a gentle nod to the neighbourhood this development will soon call home. I’d like to think it’s succeeded well beyond its initial mission.

#toronto #yyz #ontario #canada #building #orange #sign #mural #architecture #architecturephotography #buildingporn #architectureporn #downtown #urban #city #dufferin #streetphotography #nikon #nikonphotography #nikon_photography


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