San Francisco Says No To Justin Bieber’s Sidewalk Graffiti

Justin Bieber’s marketing team is in hot water. In an effort to promote the singer's Purpose album, the group employed a campaign of graffiti tags. Sidewalk art of Bieber’s face, album, and release date popped up in multiple cities in New York and California, including San Francisco.

Over a month after the album was released, the graffiti still hasn’t disappeared from city streets. Apparently, the images were created with spray paint instead of chalk, according to The Guardian. Now, San Francisco District Attorney Dennis Herrera is demanding answers from Bieber’s record label, Universal Music Group, The Guardian reports.

Herrera issued a letter to Universal Music Group on December 28 that called the marketing campaign “illegal and actionable.” The district attorney also claims that San Francisco residents have been complaining about the graffiti.

“Our sidewalks in San Francisco are not canvasses for corporate advertising, and we have made that clear. Yet these guerrilla marketers believe they are above the law when it comes to blighting our city and we will take a strong stand against them,” Herrera wrote in his letter to Universal. “The definition of graffiti is tagging someone else’s property without permission, and they certainly did not have our permission to do this to our sidewalks.” While tagging can lead to a $2,500 fine per violation in San Francisco, Herrera is asking for the music label to create “a proposal to resolve the full scope of wrongdoing and avoid civil litigation.”

Justin Bieber’s camp has remained mum on the potential trouble in which they find themselves.