A shocking subvertising campaign in London bus shelters
The British collective Everyone Hates Elon hijacked the official campaign for Meta’s new smart glasses featuring Kylie Jenner. Activists installed fake lenticular posters in several bus shelters located near the American giant’s London headquarters. Depending on the viewing angle, the star’s face shifts from a glamorous photo to a chilling skeletal X-ray. The original slogan fades away to reveal an explicit message: “We are watching you constantly.”
A tribute to John Carpenter’s cinema to denounce mass surveillance
This visual piracy directly draws inspiration from director John Carpenter’s cult film They Live. In the movie, special sunglasses reveal hidden subliminal messages and manipulation behind the city’s advertisements. The collective’s approach cleverly reuses this metaphor to highlight the major privacy and espionage risks posed by this technology. A second poster goes so far as to label the gadget the ultimate tool for voyeurs due to its lack of a recording indicator light.
Growing public backlash against intrusive smart glasses in public spaces
This guerrilla action is part of a broader global wave of resistance against intrusive connected devices. Numerous public figures and artists are openly expressing hostility toward the possibility of being filmed without their consent. By widely sharing images of this hijack across the internet, the collective successfully amplified the ethical debate. The action demonstrates the power of activist subvertising to disrupt the polished communication strategy of a tech giant.
