You may have seen the Zapatista graf up around central London, what you maybe didn't know was that it was a dirty ad campaign by Boxfresh a trendy Covent Garden clothes store. In an attempt to flog some more merchandise Boxfresh decided to try and fuse their brand logo with the Zapatista struggle. We think they are a bunch of nasties.

So we launched a campaign against them and their ad's, through the Internet, by graffiti and finally by dressing up in true Zapatista style and flyering customers to their store. Eventually Boxfresh decided enough was enough and the Head of Marketing, the Advert Designer and the Owner of the Company came down for a meeting. They tried to tell us they weren't a bunch of nasties and then agreed to the following:

1 - They would from this moment on donate every penny of profit from there Zapatista merchandise to the Zapatistas themselves.

2 - They would install a computer in the shop with a range of Zapatista sites on it.

3 - They would no longer put their logo on the adverts with Sub Comandante Marcos's words on them.

4 - They would have a leaflet in the store explaining the history of the Zapatista's and in all further marketing attempt to spread information about the Zapatista cause and their ethics as opposed to simply using them in soundbites and as an aesthetic.

In the words of the owner of Boxfresh himself "You caught us with our pants down, and we realise we were wrong". We realise that this is not an ideal solution and would obviously prefer the complete withdrawl of all of the Zapatista stuff, however we were at the same time bloody suprised to even get this far.

Please everyone keep a check on them and make sure they keep to their word. Also continue to graf over any remaining Spray paint adverts with their logo on them.

Click Below For Pics
http://www.spacehijackers.co.uk

though I just checked their Flashtastic website and it didn't have anything about it there, not surprising I suppose

Do they realise that donating money to the Zapatistas is illegal under the Terrorism Act though? Who would have thought that being a PR for a trendorama clothes shop would land you in jail?

As expected, it's the usual noo meedja wank: lots of dark grey backgrounds, squinty text, inpenetrable navigation, pointless wobbling graphics, alarmingly low content-to-design-fluff ratio and, of course, yet another fucking drum and bass loop, warbling aimlessly away.

Looks like their attempts to build a co-branded, lifestyle-associative, interactive community have fallen on stony ground though, with the bulletin board almost entirely bereft of content.

This is the same organisation that are receiving a donation from every copy of Marco's "Our word is our Weapon" published by serpants tail. Please let us know what you think?

Below is a letter we sent back in reply

Cheers,
ÊSpace Hijackers.

To: Robin Priestley, Spacehijackers
From: Roger Wade, Owner, Boxfresh

Thank you for meeting us today and for your letter. As discussed, the purpose of the campaign was not to sell clothes, but to make a statement about what we stand for. We are trying in the same way, as the Body Shop Esso campaign, to highlight a cause, and give it support through media exposure. Boxfresh is young independent label, run by young people, and we have always strived to buck the system. We regularly support graffiti artists, students and urban sports which are anti establishment.Ê Most of our customers are students, and we know they feel strongly about these issues. We felt rather than running a silly campaign featuring some beautiful models, we would choose a subject, which our customers could relate to. We hoped that through the media exposure, we would highlight the Marcos campaign.

One of our designers came across the Zapatista struggleÊ on hisÊ travels to Mexico. We researched more about him, including his article in the Guardian where he coincidentally quoted our slogan, ã We are youä, and we agreed with sentiments. We are you! He said:

Êã Further subjugating himself, Marcos says that he is not a leader to those who seek him out, but that his black mask is a mirror, reflecting each of their own struggles: that a Zapatista is anyone, anywhere fighting for injustice, that ã We are you ã. He once said Marcos is gay in San Francisco, black in South Africa, an Asian in Europe, a Chicano in San Ysidro, an anarchist in Spain, a Mayan Indian in the streets of San Cristobal, a Jew in Germany, a Gypsy in Poland, a Mohawk in Quebec, a pacifist in Bosnia, a single woman on the metro at 10pm, a peasant without land, a gang member in the slums, an unemployed worker, an unhappy student, and of course a Zapatista in the mountainsä

ÊBut all of this is words, what we going to do. Firstly we going to donate all the profit from the Zapatista kitÊ to theÊ Zapatista Support group in the UK.Ê We are going to allow our customers to find out more about Marcos through displaying the ãOur Word is our weaponä book on Marcos. We are going to give link sites to relevant Zapatista sites. We are happy to display any other additional information on Zapatista.

ÊWe apologise for any offence caused. We are trying to help a worthy cause, by giving it media exposure.Ê

ÊRgds,

Roger Wade

Dear Roger,

Cheers for your letter, I am posting up your letter on Indymedia and Urban75 the two main sites that were covering our campaign , so that will hopefully stop the hate mail, I will try to pop by the shop on Friday to see how things are going and pass on the web adresses of some Zapatista support groups.

As far as the donations go, we thought a good organisation would be Enlace Civil, who are based in Chiapas and are the same group that a donation from "Our Word is Our Weapon" is going to (So I guess Marcos must approve). This would also bypass any trouble with you funding foreign armed struggles etc. With our current improved? Terrorism Laws, a direct donation to the Zapatistas is probably going to be dodgy ground for a licenced company.

Thanks, by the way, for calmly listening to what we had to say, and for not acting in the way I would imagine most company bosses would. I guess we all learnt something about each other with the protest.

Cheers,

"We apologise for any offence caused. We are trying to help a worthy cause, by giving it media exposure."

No, you're selling shirts, you overinflated twat.

pk

What does it all mean?

spliff xxx

edited to make less scents.

spliff xxx