Covert advertising will occupy the streets of Madrid with greater density in 2024 during the period of greatest consumption of the year. In addition to the recognizable sculptures inspired by the character portrayed by Velázquez that have been visiting the city since 2018, other installations have appeared following his example in central points of the capital: giant figures of superheroes and Metro entrances decorated with video game characters or a brand of cosmetics compete for the attention of passers-by.
For some years now, it has been common to come across street exhibitions in Madrid, but now it has become normalized to avoid the current regulation of spaces in the capital. Brands have distanced themselves from classic promotion methods and are looking for campaigns that generate more impact, going out of the ordinary. It is something that the meninas have been applying for years: through an original design linked to the Madrid identity such as these characters portrayed by Velázquez, they manage to introduce sponsorships from airlines to real estate agencies. All this without paying the municipal tax that would correspond to an advertisement with these brands as protagonists, thanks to an agreement between the City Council and its promoters.
A few days before Las Meninas, a new street exhibition dedicated to the Marvel universe had arrived in the city. It is made up of a series of masks, helmets and other identifying objects of some of the firm’s most iconic superheroes: Black Panther, Iron Man and Captain America. Three sculptures measuring two and a half meters high have been installed in the streets of the capital since last November 4 as part of a promotional action to mark the arrival of the exhibition Marvel: Universe of Super Heroes to Ifema.
The sculptures, which will not leave the capital until next December 8, have been displayed in three of the places with the greatest influx of people in the center of Madrid, Callao, Cibeles and the Plaza de Santa Bárbara. In this last location, the Black Panther mask shares space with one of the specimens from the Madrid Cow Gallery, another street exhibition, in this case composed of cows, which have been on the streets of Madrid for three months, during which time they have been the vast majority of its copies vandalized.
Behind all this display is a promotional action by the entertainment company Sold Out, which has used Madrid’s public space as a showcase for five weeks. The most notable case is that of the work installed in front of the Madrid City Council headquarters, in which Captain America’s shield is represented. The sculpture is located in the surroundings of the Landscape of Light protected by UNESCO, a location that the former delegate of Culture, Andrea Levy, vetoed the meninas in one of its first editions due to its cultural and heritage importance for the city.
Since then no street exhibition for advertising purposes had been installed in the Landscape of Light until now. And it has also done it in style, since the sculptures not only include information about the organizers and collaborators of the action, they also have a QR code on the pedestal on which they rest from which you can access the sale of exhibition tickets.
Neighbors of the city have shown their discontent and rejection on numerous occasions for the indiscriminate use of public space to promote brands, certain causes or private companies. However, nothing has managed to stop the Madrid leaders, José Luis Martínez-Almeida and Isabel Díaz Ayuso, who continue to allow the repeated use of the city’s streets to deploy advertising campaigns of all kinds.
In the case of the Metro, advertising – in this case it is paid for – is at odds with usability, since this company dependent on the Community of Madrid allows brands to place their posters next to those of the station, causing confusion about the name of each stop for the traveler who does not know the surroundings. This is the case of the two latest advertising additions to Madrid’s public space in Sol and Alonso Martínez.
The first is a promotional campaign for the new Sonic movie. Each Metro de Sol entrance is customized with the colors of the characters from the saga and their names hanging from the original station sign (Sonic, Tails, Knuckles and Shadow). A way of advertising that has already caused controversy on other occasions.
The other campaign is the work of Sephora, which has installed decorative elements typical of the brand at one of the Alonso Martínez Metro entrances and, as in the case of Sonic, has renamed the station with a second sign below the original. A short distance from this place, it has installed a Christmas tree in the Plaza de Colón with a Christmas market where it also sells its products.
Seven years of sponsored meninas
The case of the Meninas has no parallel in the capital. They have been settling in the city since 2018, changing their designs. The urban exhibition, which emerged as an artistic initiative in Carmena’s time, has gradually become a promotional method that uses sponsorship as covert advertising. After a last edition marked by 100% sponsorship of its sculptures, this 2024 Meninas Madrid Gallery has a display of 32 specimens of which at least 16 are related to brands.
The Madrid City Council’s own website describes this activity as “a non-traditional channel so that brands, through art, can connect with their target audience through artistic creativity, experiences with the viewer and brand activations.” The list of sponsors and artists who have participated in this edition includes companies in the real estate sector such as Engels & Völkers, airlines such as Plus Ultra and pharmaceutical companies such as Pfizer, among others.
In addition, many of the works are supported by Antonio Azzato, the promoter of the initiative together with his company, Meninas Runaway. There are some about institutions, such as the Menina Bombera or the one signed by the Villaviciosa de Odón City Council under the name “Where the fairies live.” Also on a charitable basis sponsored by associations such as Biosim or the Guillermo Fernández – Shaw Association in tribute to zarzuela as Intangible Heritage of Humanity.
The sculptures also serve as a showcase for public figures who present their own designs to promote themselves, although these are usually celebrities not related to art. This year, among the celebrities who have participated are Chenoa, Susanna Griso, Cristina Oria, Hombres G or Karina from La Voz. Also added to the list are several sponsorships from Everything is in Madrid, the City Council’s project aimed at the promotion and advertising of the city’s entire commercial, hospitality, hotel and service offering. Nor has there been a lack of a nod to those affected by DANA with the menina tribute to Valencia.
Despite the controversy raised in previous editions, Meninas Madrid Gallery will be in the city until next December 15 and will coexist in space and time with cows, tuned Metro entrances and Marvel sculptures. And with this edition there are already seven.
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