Deep Ellum Upset Over Ad Gimmick
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DALLAS (CBS11) - In a neighborhood filled with giant murals and metal sculptures, there's one type of art the Deep Ellum community doesn't want to see. Sidewalk advertisements.
"Without talking to the business owners? No!" exclaimed one artist at work painting a wall.
A health insurance company is now apologizing after its sidewalk advertisements in Deep Ellum angered businesses and residents.
Painted earlier this week, the ads promote Oscar Healthcare, a New York company expanding its business into Dallas.
But as soon as they appeared, local businesses got to work trying to make them disappear.
"I got a glass of water and poured it over and tried to scrape it off," said Erik Gomez, the bar manager at Angry Dog.
On the Deep Ellum Community Watch Facebook page, a post urged people to tweet the company, "… we do not appreciate them spray painting their ads on our sidewalks."
Even Dallas City Council member Adam Medrano got involved asking city staff to look into it.
"It's kind of messy. It's a slippery slope. You start letting this happen and then the next thing you know… there's advertisements all over," said Gomez.
Wednesday, the company responded to the criticism on Twitter.
"Last thing we wanted was to upset people. We are really very sorry. We hear the community and we're acting to remove the ads ASAP/today."
Within hours, businesses spotted someone with a pressure washer at work.
"I guess enough people voiced their opinions that they came out and took it off," said Gomez.
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