brandalism
brandalism noun: the encroachment of ads, logos, and other types of corporate branding into public and traditionally non-commercial spaces, or the dissemination of corporate messages through methods or mediums not typically used for marketing purposes.
Noun
brandalism (uncountable)
- The encroachment of ads, logos, and other types of corporate branding into public and traditionally non-commercial spaces, or the dissemination of corporate messages through methods or mediums not typically used for marketing purposes.
- But in what archaeologists describe as one of the most shameful instances of 'brandalism' seen in Britain, Channel 4 executives stand accused of defiling the oldest hill-chalk carving in Britain.2003 May 4, Mark Townsend, “Big Brother's logo 'defiles' White Horse”, in The Observer
- The deliberate defacement of corporate iconography, generally for purposes of protest, parody, or social commentary.
- It is, effectively, the opposite of so-called "brandalism" which is where advertisers have no control over how, where and when their branded communication is sabotaged.
For example, billboards in New York for Apple's iPod music player were defaced by one disgruntled customer with the words "iPod's...2005 February 1, Steve Hemsley, “How to sabotage an ad campaign”, in MediaWeek
- It is, effectively, the opposite of so-called "brandalism" which is where advertisers have no control over how, where and when their branded communication is sabotaged.
Synonyms of brandalism
- adbusting
- culture jamming
- subvertising
Origin of brandalism
Blend of brand + vandalism.
Questions about brandalism
- What does brandalism mean?
- Brandalism means the encroachment of ads, logos, and other types of corporate branding into public and traditionally non-commercial spaces, or the dissemination of corporate messages through methods or mediums not typically used for marketing purposes.
- What part of speech is brandalism?
- Brandalism is a noun.
Words near brandalism in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: brandalism (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Cite this entry: “brandalism.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/brandalism. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.
