Vigilante armed with a fire extinguisher filled with paint sprays ‘obnoxious advertising’ screens

Modern-day hero or villain? Vigilante armed with a fire extinguisher filled with paint sprays ‘obnoxious advertising’ screens at busy train station

  • A vigilante has protested against advertising with a paint filled fire extinguisher
  • Kyle Magee covered the electronic billboards at Melbourne Central station 
  • He was arrested and is expected to be charged with criminal damage 
  • He said he has been to jail seven times but will never stop protesting in public 

A vigilante protesting unsolicited advertisements at a busy train station has been caught on film blasting three billboards with a fire extinguisher filled with paint.   

Kyle Magee covered the electronic billboards at Melbourne Central station in front of stunned onlookers on March 22.

He later admitted to the act on his website, describing the screens as ‘some of the most obnoxious advertising in Melbourne’.

‘My actions are a practical intervention against the tangible form of outdoor advertising, but they’re also a symbolic protest against all the unsolicited for-profit advertising we are exposed to through all mediums (print, radio, television, digital),’ he wrote. 

Kyle Magee covered the electronic billboards at Melbourne Central station in front of stunned onlookers on March 22 

Mr Magee said he successfully sprayed three out of the 12 billboards before he ran out of paint.

‘I guess next time I’ll need a trolley and at least four fire extinguishers,’ he said on his web page.  

Police arrived shortly thereafter and arrested Mr Magee. He was eventually released pending charges for criminal damage.

But Mr Magee is no stranger to the police station, having been charged multiple times for similar acts.

He later admitted to the act on his website, describing the screens as 'some of the most obnoxious advertising in Melbourne'

He later admitted to the act on his website, describing the screens as ‘some of the most obnoxious advertising in Melbourne’ 

Police arrived shortly thereafter and arrested Mr Magee. He was eventually released pending charges for criminal damage

Police arrived shortly thereafter and arrested Mr Magee. He was eventually released pending charges for criminal damage 

He said he ‘always pleads not guilty… and has been to jail seven times’.

‘Basically, our global system is so horribly unjust, murderous and ecocidal that I can only live in full protest, and in the most directed and constructive way possible,’ Mr Magee said. 

‘The protest I make is deliberately simple — as devoid of skill, originality, style, and aesthetic principles, as is humanly possible.’

While some people branded Mr Magee as a ‘hero’ and ‘legend’ online, others were quick to discredit his actions.

‘He’s not a hero. He’s a p***k,’ one person wrote.

Mr Magee is no stranger to the police station, having been charged multiple times for similar acts

Mr Magee is no stranger to the police station, having been charged multiple times for similar acts

While some people branded Mr Magee as a 'hero' and 'legend' online, others were quick to discredit his actions

While some people branded Mr Magee as a ‘hero’ and ‘legend’ online, others were quick to discredit his actions 

‘Advertising in railway stations does not harm anyone, sure you might be tempted to buy something shown but that is entirely your choice,’ a second person said.

‘If people did this regularly, advertisers won’t bother to advertise and the railway station or company will need to make up for lost revenue somehow, by either cutting services, firing people, or raising prices. Nobody wins,’ another user wrote.

But others said his form of protest was acceptable, deeming the advertising itself as a form of ‘vandalism’. 

‘Advertising is an intrusion. A disruption. It is essentially dishonest and manipulative. Out public spaces are degraded by this commercialisation,’ one person wrote. 

Mr Magee said: ‘To me for-profit advertising and the for-profit media it funds are two parts of the same anti-democratic media system’ and he hopes his protesting will one day contribute to the introduction of a ‘democratic media system’.

Sorry we are not currently accepting comments on this article.



Read more at DailyMail.co.uk