Post Box Graffiti Stunt

Half a dozen of post boxes around the island of Singapore were "vandalized" with graffiti spray paints recently. This act raised public concern that was unexpected by the organizers of the stunt. It was sponsored by SingPost which hired a local events agency A Group of People to do the act. A man in a masked figure called the "Inkman" made spray paintings on post boxes to promote the Youth Olympic Games and an art competition themed Sports & The City. Singpost has already asked the police if this was against the law and told the timings and locations of the stunts before hand although the police were just told the stunt will be "out-of-the-box".

The people at stake here were the SingPost, the Inkman and A Group Of People, the police and the citizens of Singapore. SingPost's unexpected negative response of the people and the had frankly frightened the authorities in SingPost and make them question the logic behind their actions. The Inkman's and his Group's safety was also at stake as they were the people who was directly involed in 'vandalizing' the boxes and would be held responsible for the inconvenience in addition to SingPost. Lastly the it may create dislike and inconvenience for the people who uses them or passes by it. However these people were not actually harmed in any direct way even if they were to see the stunt in action it self other than a delay in time for their own curiosity.

I'm not sure if the unnecessary public alarm was caused by curiosity or concern over the general welfare of people. If i were in the situation i would have just watched and thought about why this guy was doing it. Singapore is a developed country, and if this stunt wasn't being stopped by the police in about 15 mins i would just stayed and see the message of all this. Although most likely i would just look at it while i walk pass by turning my head a little more that usual. It would've affected the people who used or wanted to use the box more although i doubt the majority of people who were concerned weren't. It goes to show people panic if they see something out of the ordinary happening and wasn't told about it earlier. Like the character ... said in the movie... if people were told that something was going to happen before hand they won't panic so much even if the event was harmful.

What's normal in society is decided by the society because what is 'normal or common' but what the majority of us are accustomed to. This was uncommon in Singapore but a lot of things common in other areas would have been uncommon here. Common shifts and adapts among different societies. Graffiti works in unauthorized areas are illegal and would even be caned if caught doing like it has been done in the past for vandalism. So it isn't that alarming that people would be caught surprise and concerned for this. This may especially be since some may view graffiti as vandalism more than art.I do think that this is an act of art, a street art in the public area. Although there are different parties who will highly oppose this for instance the owner of the wall that was vandalized. However in this case SingPost was in on it so it was alright.

The lesson we can learn from it next time if a thing like this were to occur in a country like Singapore is that if you're doing anything "out-of-the-box" give the people a heads up. If the act were legal and told before hand that this was for a promotion and the Inkman was hired, it would have caused less alarm even if the people did not like it. Some may even appreciate further if they knew what it was about, for instance the freedom to "Express Yourself." I guess the intention and the medium was acceptable or decent but the stunt lost its applause in the delivery. The audience and the people who would have been affected should have been let known before or even right after the stunt.