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Billboard Advertising Banned Products In Russia Hides If It Recognizes Cops

Posted by samzenpus on from the next-slide dept.

m.alessandrini writes: In response to a ban of food imported from the European Union, an Italian grocery in Russia hired an ad agency to create a billboard with a camera and facial recognition software, that's able to change to a different ad when it recognizes the uniform of Russian cops. Gizmodo reports: "With the aid of a camera and facial recognition software, the technology was slightly tweaked to instead recognize the official symbols and logos on the uniforms worn by Russian police. And as they approached the billboard featuring the advertisement for Don Giulio Salumeria’s imported Italian goods, it would automatically change to an ad for a Matryoshka doll shop instead."

86 comments

  1. Good heavens by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

    "Billboard Advertising Banned Products In Russia Hides If It Recognizes Cops"

    Can anyone translate that indecipherable gibberish into English?

    1. Re:Good heavens by bhcompy · · Score: 1

      Indeed. My brain hurts. "Billboard Advertising" is a common term. Perhaps should have went with "Billboard displaying".

    2. Re:Good heavens by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

      The reason this sentence is bad is because it's a so-called garden path sentence.

      You parsed ‘banned’ as the main verb with subject ‘billboard advertising’ but in fact ‘banned’ is a participle acting as an adjective to ‘products’.

      These sentences are called garden path sentences because they lead you along the ‘garden path’ which seems neat and kept and trimmed on both sides until it turns out to be a dead end and you should have taken a left somewhere.

    3. Re:Good heavens by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

      Parse error: Invalid path, garden not found.

    4. Re:Good heavens by Godwin+O'Hitler · · Score: 4, Informative

      And once you finally do parse it, it still isn't accurate. The billboard doesn't hide itself; it hides its message.

      "Russian Billboard hides banned products advertisement when it recognizes cops." - one word less, unambiguous, and accurate.

      --
      No, your children are not the special ones. Nor are your pets.
    5. Re:Good heavens by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Would these work better?

      Banned Products Billboard Advertising In Russia Hides If It Recognizes Cops.

      or

      Billboard Advertising of Products Banned In Russia Hides If It Recognizes Cops.

    6. Re:Good heavens by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      "Russian Billboard hides banned products advertisement when it recognizes cops." - one word less, unambiguous, and accurate.

      Seriously? Does it actively hide banned products that are stored somewhere in the shop?

    7. Re:Good heavens by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      ... indecipherable gibberish into English ...

      "Billboard Advertising Banned Products" ... eg. A billboard displaying a picture of cocaine ready for sale.

      "In Russia" meaning the advertising occurs in Russia. This implies the billboard is in Russia but it's not a given. Grammar requires the "In" isn't capitalized and "Russia" has a trailing comma.

      "hides" meaning the billboard drops the picture of cocaine and runs behind a fence.

      Grammar requires the "If It" isn't capitalized.

      "Recognizes Cops" meaning the billboard knows, and is known by the persons wearing police uniforms.

    8. Re:Good heavens by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Billboard, Advertising Banned Products In Russia, Hides If It Recognizes Cops

    9. Re:Good heavens by Livius · · Score: 1

      It's perfectly correct albeit somewhat convoluted English.

      Although it is saying that the billboard hides (intransitively), which is something different from hiding (transitively) the advert.

    10. Re: Good heavens by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You're right, it should be "Billboard Advertising Banned Products Hides In Russia If It Recognizes Cops".

      I envisioned the billboard running behind a nearby building...

    11. Re:Good heavens by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1

      Parse error: Invalid path, garden not found.

      The Land of Green Ginger
      This is the tale of an enchanted land that was never in the same place twice.
      The Land of Green Ginger was built by a magician
      who was very fond of flowers and vegetables.
      So that when he went traveling, he could take
      The Land of Green Ginger with him like a portable back garden.
      "Don't tell me - I know! He said 'Button-Nosed Tortoise'!
      He is under the spell of The Land of Green Ginger.
      We don't know the whereabouts of the Land Of Green Ginger.
      The Land Of Green Ginger suddenly rose up without a word of warning,
      And floated off of its own accord and has never been seen again since.

    12. Re:Good heavens by Rich0 · · Score: 2

      Would these work better?

      Banned Products Billboard Advertising In Russia Hides If It Recognizes Cops.

      or

      Billboard Advertising of Products Banned In Russia Hides If It Recognizes Cops.

      The second seems rather incorrect to me.

      It might be easier to just pick a word which is strictly an adjective, such as:

      Billboard Advertising Illegal Products in Russia Hides if it Recognizes Cops.

      Or, even simpler:

      Billboard Advertising Illegal Products Hides if it Recognizes Cops

      The problem is that "banned" can be a verb or a participle. "Illegal" is strictly an adjective.

    13. Re:Good heavens by flappinbooger · · Score: 1

      "Billboard Advertising Banned Products In Russia Hides If It Recognizes Cops"

      Can anyone translate that indecipherable gibberish into English?

      An electronic billboard that shows ads for banned products changes what it shows when it sees cops coming.

      --
      Flappinbooger isn't my real name
    14. Re:Good heavens by flappinbooger · · Score: 1

      "Billboard Advertising Banned Products In Russia Hides If It Recognizes Cops"

      Can anyone translate that indecipherable gibberish into English?

      An electronic billboard that shows ads for banned products changes what it shows when it sees cops coming.

      Or - Facial recognition allows black market billboard to avoid the police.

      --
      Flappinbooger isn't my real name
    15. Re:Good heavens by Big+Hairy+Ian · · Score: 1

      Can anyone translate that indecipherable gibberish into English?

      Can anyone translate that indecipherable gibberish into English?

      --

      Build a Man a Fire, and He'll Be Warm for a Day. Set a Man on Fire, and He'll Be Warm for the Rest of His Life.

    16. Re: Good heavens by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Billboard hides illegal products from Russian cops

    17. Re:Good heavens by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Really? It's a little awkward, but reading it a second time over and you get it. Unless there's some obscure rule of grammar, it's also perfectly correct English as well.

      Why must everything be written to a 3rd grade level to accommodate the stupid?

    18. Re:Good heavens by Ol+Olsoc · · Score: 1

      "Billboard Advertising Banned Products In Russia Hides If It Recognizes Cops"

      Can anyone translate that indecipherable gibberish into English?

      I think the Amish are writing the stories now.....

      --
      The shepherds did so well protecting the flock that the sheep no longer believed that wolves existed.
    19. Re: Good heavens by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You're making it sound like its doing an Edward Snowdon, running off to Russia to hide

      I'd go with "Billboard In Russia Advertising Banned Products Hides If It Recognizes Cops".

    20. Re:Good heavens by Grand+Facade · · Score: 1

      The advertiser believes the cops play with dolls!

      --
      Rick B.
    21. Re:Good heavens by wardrich86 · · Score: 1

      "Russian Billboard Ad for Grocery Store Selling Banned Products Hides If It Recognizes Cops."

    22. Re:Good heavens by justthinkit · · Score: 1

      Good news for your fear of reading. TFA has an animated GIF that shows the billboard in action.

      --
      I come here for the love
    23. Re:Good heavens by mrchaotica · · Score: 1

      While it may give grammar nazis fits, a slightly non-standard use of commas could eliminate the ambiguity in the original headline:

      Billboard, Advertising Banned Products In Russia, Hides If It Recognizes Cops

      --

      "[Regarding the 'cloud,'] ownership was what made America different than Russia." -- Woz

    24. Re:Good heavens by Cassini2 · · Score: 1

      Simple, short, clear: "Russian Billboard detects Cops!"

      Headlines are supposed to be simple and short. Other alternatives are:

      Russian Billboard hides advertisement when it recognizes cops.

      or:

      Russian Billboard hides advertisement for banned products, when it recognizes cops.

      Sentences with dependent clauses are often more difficult to read than sentences without dependent clauses. Thus, the first sentence "Russian Billboard detect Cops!" is very straightforward to read. The second variation is slightly more complicated, because it has one dependent clause. The third variation has two dependent clauses, "for banned products, when it recognizes cops". This makes the sentence complicated to read, gives the story away, and is less likely to attract readers to the article.

    25. Re:Good heavens by Godwin+O'Hitler · · Score: 1

      I wholeheartedly endorse your terseness but you have somewhat chucked the bambino out with the bathwater. There needs to be some context that makes detecting cops significant. Maybe "Dodgy Russian billboard detects cops"?

      --
      No, your children are not the special ones. Nor are your pets.
    26. Re:Good heavens by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      "Billboard Advertising Banned Products In Russia Hides If It Recognizes Cops"

      Can anyone translate that indecipherable gibberish into English?

      Translation: "RTFA, asshole. It isn't that hard to figure out"

    27. Re: Good heavens by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Billboard hides cops

    28. Re:Good heavens by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Seriously? I found this perfectly understandable. Yeah, the caps make it a little confusing, but I think you need to work on your reading comprehension.

    29. Re: Good heavens by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Where does the billboard hide itself?

    30. Re:Good heavens by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      In Soviet Russia, the billboard spots you (and cops).

    31. Re:Good heavens by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Yes, it's perfectly correct English that's telling us that the Billboard hides when it detects cops.

    32. Re:Good heavens by Skylinux · · Score: 1

      Simple!
      In Russia, billboard changes you ... ohh wait!?!

      --
      Everyone who buys Wild Hunt will receive 16 specially prepared DLCs absolutely for free, regardless of platform.
    33. Re: Good heavens by bistromath007 · · Score: 1
      What would be better is some punctuation, but clickbait and commas don't mix.

      "Russian Billboard, Advertising Banned Products, Hides if it Recognizes Cops"

    34. Re:Good heavens by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Plenty of responses already, but here's another that keeps the sentence in tact.

      [A smart] billboard [in Russia, that is] advertising banned products in Russia, hides [the ad] if it recognizes cops.

    35. Re: Good heavens by Cito · · Score: 1

      Its like mini blinds.

      Shows imported meat ad, when cop is spotted on camera the slats rotate showing the doll ad.

      We have these mini blind style rotating ads on I-75 in Georgia. But this is new being triggered by camera instead of timer.

    36. Re:Good heavens by Rich0 · · Score: 1

      While it may give grammar nazis fits, a slightly non-standard use of commas could eliminate the ambiguity in the original headline:

      Billboard, Advertising Banned Products In Russia, Hides If It Recognizes Cops

      I'm not convinced that your sentence isn't perfectly grammatical, but I'm not enough of a grammar nazi to diagram it. :)

    37. Re:Good heavens by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Can anyone translate that indecipherable gibberish into English?

      "A Billboard that's Advertising Banned Products In Russia Hides the banned product If It Recognizes Cops"

    38. Re: Good heavens by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Coglione

    39. Re:Good heavens by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      And once you finally do parse it, it still isn't accurate. The billboard doesn't hide itself; it hides its message.

      "Russian Billboard hides banned products advertisement when it recognizes cops." - one word less, unambiguous, and accurate.

      Do you think that some clever hacker can do the same for his porn site?

  2. EU food ban? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1

    Have they really banned all food from the EU??

    Wow.

    1. Re:EU food ban? by Rei · · Score: 3, Informative

      Yeah, but they "cheat" a lot - for example, Belarus has made a mint serving as a reshipping platform for European goods. And for some reason they left Iceland off their list even though we supported the sanctions against them. Still, it's caused major food price inflation (unsurprisingly). Seems kind of a weird way to punish Europe, it seems obvious it's going to have a lot more effect at home than abroad - Russia's trade in food goods with Europe makes up far more of its imports than Europe's trade in food goods with Russia makes up of its exports. But I guess they didn't have a lot of options for "retaliation". I mean, Gazprom is already nearly going broke as it is, turning off the spigots would have rapidly ensured that it did. Oil and gas make up half of their government budget and 2/3rds of their exports - it'd sure punish Europe, but it'd also be economic suicide.

      I think they're really hoping that the sanctions will just expire and they'll be able to go back to raking in western capital again. Because if they don't expire, barring some huge unexpected oil price surge, those reserve funds are going to dry up. They expect it to be down to under $40B by the end of this year. What they're going to do when it runs out, I have no clue. They need dollars and euros to buy the goods that their undersized industrial sector can't manufacture. China's a help but not a solution; they don't have the lending power of the US or EU to begin with, and their goal seems to be more exploiting Russia over the situation than offering friendly aid. For example, they got Russia to agree to the cutthroat rates on the proposed "Power Of Siberia" pipeline that they'd been trying to get for years and to let them own greater than 50% stakes on fields inside Russia. They got Russia to sell them their most advanced air defense system despite the objections of the defense industry over concerns that China would do what they always do with new technology - reverse engineer it and then produce it domestically. But who else are they going to turn to? China's basically becoming Russia's "loan shark". And at the end of the day, if it came down to it and China had to chose between the Russian market and the 20-fold larger market of the US and EU? It's not even a contest.

      --
      "Who the **** put an emergency exit in the interrogation room?!" -- Police chief, "Jesus Christ Supercop"
    2. Re:EU food ban? by dunkelfalke · · Score: 1

      The import ban for food was supposed to hurt Poland - the loudest supporter for sanctions - first and foremost, and I think that worked out pretty well. I still remember Poland begging other EU countries to buy as many of their apples as possible. It also hurt Greece a lot, making this a problem of the whole euro-zone.

      --
      "It's such a fine line between stupid and clever" -- David St. Hubbins, Spinal Tap
    3. Re:EU food ban? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Mod parent up - "funny".

    4. Re:EU food ban? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I don't know why so many people have a fetish for overstating Rusia's power or general potency on the world stage.

      Economically they're a backward 3rd rate nation. They're not even on par with any one of the larger US states.

      They've completely gutted all advances made in the post-soviet era by essentially murdering/stealing and consolidating all major holdings under some really awful amalgamation of government run by oligarchs. Whatever it is, it's grossly inefficient and mis-managed.

      They based their economy entirely on hydrocarbon exports, which can be happily manipulated by the Sauds and the US, sending their economy in to the shitter.

      The Chinese and the Russians /hate/ each other. I cannot overstate this point. China's not going to lift a finger to help Russia unless they see massive benefit.

      They place is a damn mess and it's not going to improve anytime soon. Probably not without some nasty, bloody regime change either.

    5. Re:EU food ban? by luther349 · · Score: 1

      don't fell bad china lone sharked the usa then bought it.

    6. Re:EU food ban? by luther349 · · Score: 1

      well eh usa is using the same tactics and diving head first into 3rd world status. we just have more very ritch to give the illusion where doing well

    7. Re:EU food ban? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The U.S. could apparently start by teaching people to spell.

    8. Re:EU food ban? by shutdown+-p+now · · Score: 1

      hey expect it to be down to under $40B by the end of this year [rbth.com]. What they're going to do when it runs out, I have no clue

      They'll start slashing welfare to stabilize the budget. That's why the rhetoric about how the evil West is once again trying to destroy Russia is still in full force... so that when they start starving the more vulnerable parts of the populace, there's an established external enemy to blame.

      The other option? That would be war, the ultimate excuse.

      Of course #1 does not preclude #2. It might just defer it.

  3. Obligatory by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    In Soviet Russia, ad recognize you! Wait.. what?

    1. Re:Obligatory by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      In Soviet Russia ad watches you!

  4. Re:Go to school by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Informative

    I'm not even a native english speaker, but here you go:

    "A billboard in Russia advertises banned Italian products, but switches to ads for Matryoshka dolls when its camera spots a cop."

  5. Great idea by edittard · · Score: 1

    Brilliant, until some idiot blabs about it.

    --
    At the bottom of the /. main page it says 'Yesterday's News'. Well they got that right.
    1. Re:Great idea by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Yeap, you can say good bye to that shop. That guy is going to the black dolphin.

    2. Re:Great idea by andydread · · Score: 1

      yep next news headline. "Store owner selling banned Italian goods discovered dead, poisoned with exotic substance"

    3. Re:Great idea by fuzzyfuzzyfungus · · Score: 1

      Given that the store doing the advertising presumably stocks the banned goods, and it's a lot harder to hide physical merchandise in a hurry; I'd assume that the plan depends on the costs of being discovered being less than the value of the advertising, with the cute little trick being there to make it newsworthy, not to fool the cops(even if there were somehow zero machine vision errors or plainclothes cops in Russia; it can't be that uncommon for off-duty cops to wear street clothes; or for the families of police to talk to them).

      There is probably a small but nonzero risk that, thanks to the buzz, some humorless enforcer will throw the book at them; but barring that the plan would appear to depend on the actual penalties for 'banned' goods being pretty toothless.

  6. una fatsa, una ratsa by antiperimetaparalogo · · Score: -1, Troll

    A friendly advice from a Greek. to my neighbours, the Italians, who want to do business in Russia:
    * Russians are not like Germans, they have *some* taste of humour
    * Russians are not like Germans, they will be *really* angry if they miss the joke
    In other words: Russians are not like Germans!

    --
    Antisthenes: "Wisdom begins by examining the words/names." - excuse my English, i am (slightly...) better with my Greek!
    1. Re:una fatsa, una ratsa by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      It's "una faccia, una razza" vlameno :-)

      As "one of your neighbors" living in you country I second your advice, despite being more successful in doing business with the German rather than the Russians.

  7. Don't be so far to believe! by bungo · · Score: 4, Informative

    As pointed out on a news website (which I can't remember where for the moment), the whole thing appears staged, and they 'police' are probably acting (or actors).

    It is not illegal in Russia to sell the western goods, it's just illegal to import them, under the current self-imposed Russian sanctions. There is no reason why the shop can't advertise the food, and there is no law that the police can use to stop the food from being sold.

    --
    "The best part? I became an ordained minister while not wearing pants." -- CleverNickName
    1. Re:Don't be so far to believe! by bungo · · Score: 1

      damn. .. should have been 'fast to believe' not 'far to believe'....

      and I've been around here long enough to know that I should always preview the post first!

      --
      "The best part? I became an ordained minister while not wearing pants." -- CleverNickName
    2. Re:Don't be so far to believe! by bungo · · Score: 5, Informative

      Here's a link to a BBC article where some doubts are also expressed on this being real.

      http://www.bbc.com/news/blogs-news-from-elsewhere-32828359/

      --
      "The best part? I became an ordained minister while not wearing pants." -- CleverNickName
    3. Re:Don't be so far to believe! by rioki · · Score: 1

      If you it actually was forbidden to sell food, you would not see this story. The Russian government does not fuck around. You may be able to bend laws in central Russia, but not Moscow.

      But I can see that the store may have some trouble, since the perception that buying EU food is impossible may well be wide spread. This add campaign basically is clever advertising and a bit of critique of the situation.

    4. Re:Don't be so far to believe! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      It's likely not illegal to import 'western' food in Russia.

      It's the EU that enforced an _export_ ban of certain products (food in particular), as part of the economic sanctions due to the Krim/Ukrain conflict.

      So the trade route now goes via an other random country, like Turkey, where the goods may be repacked/relabeled or just re-shipped.

    5. Re:Don't be so far to believe! by reub2000 · · Score: 1

      Not to mention that it's so easy to defeat (plaincloths officer) that no person in their right mind would use the technology to fool police.

    6. Re:Don't be so far to believe! by AmiMoJo · · Score: 4, Funny

      Of course it's not a real thing, it's a stunt. It would never work in any practical sense, and the fact that they have publicised it doesn't exactly help them keep its nature secret from the police. It's just marketing. How much would this much coverage have cost if paid for as TV advertising?

      --
      const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
      SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
    7. Re:Don't be so far to believe! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      It's the EU that enforced an _export_ ban of certain products (food in particular), as part of the economic sanctions due to the Krim/Ukrain conflict.

      Wrong.

      Russia instituted an import ban for some European food as a response to European sanctions.
      A quick google search for 'eu russian import ban' should make that obvious too.

    8. Re:Don't be so far to believe! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Funny

      OK. So we all agree it's just a stunt.

      So the real headline should be "Billboard used for advertising".

    9. Re:Don't be so far to believe! by Impy+the+Impiuos+Imp · · Score: 1

      Thanks. Also, it is rational to do a run-around of dictators and their laws.

      Next up on Slashdot: Cool new system detects people hiding from police in attics!

      --
      (-1: Post disagrees with my already-settled worldview) is not a valid mod option.
  8. Huh? You mean there are shops that by MouseTheLuckyDog · · Score: 1

    specialize in Matryoshka dolls?

    1. Re:Huh? You mean there are shops that by wonkey_monkey · · Score: 5, Funny

      Just one shop. It's inside another, slightly larger, shop.

      --
      systemd is Roko's Basilisk.
    2. Re:Huh? You mean there are shops that by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Dude, you have no idea. I spent an hour at one in France. The lady there didn't fuck around with her nesting dolls. You could pay for a years tuition at Stanford with some of her Merchandise.

  9. Nothing like science by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    to make the corrupt look stupid. This is it. Facial recognition was once for police to find the criminal. Now it's for the entrepreneur to find the idiot police. I love science!

  10. Great - real world adblock by Chrisq · · Score: 4, Funny

    CAn I get a Russian police hat with an "adblock" badge on the front.

    1. Re: Great - real world adblock by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Technically the software doesn't use facial recognition, it looks for objects like a badge. Well in this case, it looks for the police, so if it spots a donut, then we have a positive match.

  11. ho ho ho by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Putin will teach them a lesson : )

  12. In Russia half of people are nonuniformed snitches by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Interesting

    > it recognizes the uniform of Russian cops

    Russia is full of FSB (ex-KGB) agents who are NOT wearing uniforms, because Russia is a secret police state, that is.

    Many ordinary people become FSB informants voluntarily, just to gain fiscal or health benefits or help their dumb kids enter univ. They spy on neighbours and the neighbours spy on them, sending each other to siberian forced re-education camps, because the russian pysche is a slavic (slave-ish) psyche. They were never free and they are born to be oppressed and suffer. It's in their genes that russians need a dictator who mass-murders them and imposes unspeakable misery on them, so they can sincerely idolize him with all their hearts' content.

    This is a never-ending vicious cycle that will only cease when russians are no more or they abandon the orthodox faith and join unity with the Bishop of Rome.

    Actually, Vladimir Putin's grandfather was the personal cook of Isaac Blank, nome d' guerre Vladimir Lenin, the tsar-killing founder of the USSR, inventor of the "military-communism" misery. After said Lenin went to hell from syphillis, Putin's granddad then cooked for the heir, one infamous Josif Vissarionovich Judasfili, nome d' guerre Stalin Koba, the worst genocidor of all times who disappearated over 25 million in the Gulags.

    But fear not, as long as vodka floods, russians don't care about spilling their and others' blood for the dictator.

  13. Totally fooled the cops! by gsslay · · Score: 1

    If only there was some way for police to disguise themselves. Or if there was some way to see this advert from a distance. Thank goodness there isn't, or this advert would appear to be nothing more than an advertising stunt.

    1. Re:Totally fooled the cops! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      If only there was some way for police to disguise themselves. Or if there was some way to see this advert from a distance. Thank goodness there isn't, or this advert would appear to be nothing more than an advertising stunt.

      Shouting about it all over the internet isn't exactly a stealthy way to keep it hidden either.

    2. Re:Totally fooled the cops! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Such things actually works very well, for a simple reason:

      The cops are not actively looking for billboards advertising banned items. It is low on their list, especially in countries with lots of violent crime. Still, if they stumble upon such ads often, they might decide to pay the shop a visit on an otherwise calm day.

      This little trick minimizes the risk :-)

  14. Not so hidden now. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Gee, great idea, make your stealth marketing of BANNED goods go VIRAL.

    About to be disappeared in 3...2...1.

  15. I thought the EU were boycotting them? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    We call it a boycot, they call it a ban on foods imported from EU?

  16. Advertising by Obi Wan Kenobi! by Irate+Engineer · · Score: 1

    "These aren't the salamis you are looking for.."

    --

    Left MS Windows for Linux Mint and never looked back!

    Vote for Bernie in 2016!

  17. Billboard wat by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    This story is a load of horseshit. Granted, it's imaginative horseshit.

  18. Speed traps by PPH · · Score: 1

    If they detect a police car parked behind the billboard, they switch to a large picture of a policeman parked behind the billboard.

    --
    Have gnu, will travel.
  19. Nonsense by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Yes because police are in uniform 24x7. Additionally, all it takes is for someone to see the ad who knows it's not legal and reports it because they're a loyalist. I smell BS.

  20. Gratuitous by oldmac31310 · · Score: 1

    In Soviet Russia, cops hide you!

    --
    http://www.acetonestudio.com