Stop Projecting Trashy Ads on Historic Buildings, Warns the U.K. Parliament

You can’t really blame the U.K. parliament for being a little grumpy. Since last winter, the neo-gothic hulk of London’s Houses of Parliament has been besmirched with huge, unauthorized projections that have at various points included a monkey, a swastika, and a reality star’s weight-loss photos. The building has become the go-to canvas for any advertiser (or occasional political activist) looking for an eye-catching backdrop for their campaign, thanks to its iconic status and easy use as a projection screen from the opposite bank of the River Thames.

Now, says Parliament’s external communications director Lee Bridges, enough is enough. Writing an angry piece this month for advertising industry news sheet Campaign, Bridges warned readers implicitly that if they indulged in more projection bombing, they’d be messing with the wrong people: