In Los Angeles, activist art collective INDECLINE has claimed credit for alterations to at least one billboard for the film, writing on social media that “we have gone to great lengths and risks to help create a little marketing buzz ahead of the premiere.” Above those words was a video of a masked vandal adding a scatological element to the billboard, a suggestion that the first lady — ad shown in the ad — is relieving herself on an American flag.
Other incidents of vandalism across the Los Angeles area include those on white-pasted posters and display advertising at bus stops, some of which now show Melania Trump in devil horns, a Hitler mustache, or with the words “deport” above the film’s title.
The defacements concerned city officials enough that Los Angeles Metro buses with Melania ads have been routed from some neighborhoods into other, presumably Melania-friendlier zones. “After seeing significant vandalism at city bus stops on advertising for the Melania movie, Metro proactively reassigned some of the buses containing that advertising to other geographic areas to minimize potential vandalism,” a spokesperson for the transit agency told NBC LA.
Speaking with the LA Times, Metro spokesperson Patrick Chandler elaborated. “Given that Metro buses have had significant vandalism and damage during previous periods of heightened public activity,” he said, “we made the decision in the interest of protecting our riders, employees and assets, and out of an abundance of caution, to shift some of these buses to areas where we were not observing that vandalism.” (Vanity Fair has reached out to the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority for more information on the reassignment, but has not received a response as of publication time.)
The reassigned buses are not expected to impact any riders’ commutes, and any disruption as a result of the change will end soon: According to the LAT, the campaign was a four-week ad buy, and we’re currently on week three. The film, which was released in around 1500 theaters across the US and Canada on Friday, is expected to eventually join the Amazon Prime Video streaming catalog. A date for its streaming drop has yet to be announced.