Adbusting — disruption in the urban space

Adbusting is the redesigning of advertising posters by anonymous creators, which are visibly inserted in the urban space.

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Adbusting (English: from 'ad' - short form of 'advertisement' and 'to bust' = ugs. 'to smash') is the term for a series of communicative practices used to alienate commercial and political advertising in public space. Nowadays, social media play an increasing role, firstly because digital editing techniques can be used and secondly because they reach a much larger audience. In principle, adbusting is about unmasking prevailing power relations within public communication spaces. For this purpose, visual surfaces, usually advertising posters, are reinterpreted insofar as the modification of already existing signs of any kind inscribes a different meaning than the original one. Such actions can be directed against corporations, political parties, politicians or state institutions. For some, adbusting is a creative form of expression of political-social protest; for those attacked in this way and the investigating authorities, however, adbusting often constitutes at least damage to property.

(Source: Feb. 2023, https://diskursmonitor.de/glossar/adbusting/, Author: Steffen Pappert)

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