Jessica Alba Vandalized Lamar Billboard in Shark Preservation Stunt
Jessica Alba will not be prosecuted for her role in vandalizing a Lamar Advertising billboard in a stunt to raise awareness of the dwindling great white shark, according to the AP.
The actress had plastered a Lamar board — being used by charity group United Way — with a giant picture of a great white. The protest was organized by blogger White Mike, who travels the country plastering shark pictures everywhere in hopes of getting people to sympathize with the scary but endangered beasts.
After complaints came in, Alba — no guerilla activist, she! — immediately apologized:
I got involved in something I should have had no part of … I realize that I should have used better judgment, and I regret not thinking things through before I made a spontaneous and ill-advised decision to let myself get involved with the people behind this campaign. I sincerely apologize to the citizens of Oklahoma City and to the United Way for my involvement in this incident.
Oklahoma City’s Parks and Rec Dept filed a complaint with police and photos of Alba committing the act appeared briefly — and where then removed — on White Mike’s blog.
To add insult to injury, the board had been donated to United Way by Lamar for free. The AP:
Lamar Advertising, which owns the billboard, also said the company doesn’t plan to pursue charges, said Bill Condon, general manager and vice president of the company’s Oklahoma City office.
“I think her comment and what she released seemed pretty sincere,” Condon said.
Jim Edwards, a former managing editor of Adweek, has covered drug marketing at Brandweek for four years, and is a former Knight-Bagehot fellow at Columbia University's business and journalism schools. Follow him on Twitter or send him an email.
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