ESPN has used a lot of interesting campaigns lately, including the weird eyeball balls and the Manny sock, but the latest one for Monday Night Football is by far the most popular. So popular in fact, that people around the country are stealing the AstroTurfed ads from bus stops at an alarming rate. Via the NY Times' blog, City Room....

AstroTurf has long been used as a derisive synonym for the artificial. (The Astro is from Astrodome, where the fake grass was installed in 1966.) In fact, fake grass-roots campaigns have been often called “AstroTurf campaigns.” However, AstroTurf is a proper name, like Kleenex and Xerox, and it has lasted longer than its parent company, which went bankrupt in 2004, in part because of the ascendency of rival FieldTurf. (The brand in the ESPN ad is called SynLawn.)

But clearly, there is a soft spot in our hearts for fake grass, because vandals have been stealing the eye-catching turf ads around the country since they started going up the last few weeks on bus shelters and walls. The city with the highest thefts? Where else: New York.

In the city, about 195 billboards and bus shelter ads were planned. Of those, 72 of 90 bus shelter postings have been stolen and all of the 85 more traditional billboard posters have been stolen.

Well that's unfortunate, but I have to say that I would be attempted to nab one myself if I saw it on the street. Oh and the New York Times also said that there's one left on East 39th Street between Third and Lexington Avenues. So....yeah....if you want to....ummm...."see it", be sure to stop by there on your way home from work tonight, New Yorkers.

Turf War Over ESPN Ads at Bus Shelters (NY Times)
ESPN's Ad Agency Is At It Again, Hits Up L.A. Laundomats (Awful Announcing)
This ESPN Marketing Effort Might Scare Some People (Awful Announcing)