I've been catching up today on the wonderful world of marketing. But where there's marketing there's antimarketing and guerilla marketing. And I'm catching up on that too.

Have you heard of shopdropping? Better that Ryan Watkins-Hughes of shopdropping.net explain—

SHOPDROP:

To covertly place merchandise on display in a store. Primarily used in guerrilla ad campaigns, tactical media projects, and art installations. S[ynonyms]. reverse shoplift, droplift

Shopdropping is an ongoing project in which I alter the packaging of canned goods and then "shopdrop" the items back onto grocery store shelves. I replace the packaging with labels created using my photographs. The "shopdropped" works act as a series of art objects that people can purchase from the grocery store. Because the barcodes and price tags are left intact purchasing the cans before they are discovered and removed is possible. In one instance a store employee even restocked the cans to a new aisle based on the barcode information.

Shopdropping strives to take back a share of the visual space we encounter on daily basis. Similar to the way street art stakes a claim to public space for self expression, Shopdropping subverts commercial space for artistic use. The photographs act as a visual journal of my travels over the past few years. Displayed in nonlinear combinations the images remix the traditional narrative of the passing of time. The vibrant individuality of each image is a stark contrast to the repetitive, functional, package design that is replaced.

Ryan has issued an open call for works to be part of a collaborative shopdropping installation.

Shopdropping.net has links to sites of other groups using related techniques such as the Barbie Liberation Organization and Cement Cuddlers.

Tags: * art marketing shopdrop shopdropping droplift droplifting guerrilla art guerilla art