Sun Media warned to clean up its 24 Hours boxes

Here's something fun. Sun Media has been given an ultimatum to clean up its weathered 24 Hours newspaper boxes or face a citizen-led makeover. Known as the 24 Hour Box Guerrilla Art Makeover Project, founder Rolyn Chambers issued his warning back on August 24th, at which time he gave the company 24 days to either remove the boxes or to give them a good scrub down. If the company doesn't comply, so warns Chambers, he will launch a project to reclaim the boxes.

"Artists can paint them, stencil them, graffiti art them," Chambers explains on the website. Boxes can be covered in plaster and creatures can be made out of them. They can be Decoupage'd, Papier Maché'd, covered in fake flowers, cereal, buttons, fake gems, or perhaps fun fur..." The sky's the limit, in other words, so long as "the goal is to make the box better not worse."

With just over a week left, 24 Hours boxes remain in their beat-up state, so one wonders if Sun Media knows it's been put on warning. How the company ultimately deals with this little threat — which could actually be a great marketing opportunity if handled properly — will be intriguing to see play out. Will Sun Media sit by as artists "improve" the boxes, or will it comply with the request? Or will the guerrilla artists ultimately be nabbed for their vandalistic good intentions? Place your bets.

To keep up on developments related to the project, check out the website.

Photo by Steve Harris in the blogTO Flickr pool.