“Alternative advertising” is a relatively new term in the lexicon of marketing. It is also called “guerrilla marketing.” The latter term describes quite well the tactics used in this kind of advertising. “Guerrilla” is defined by Merriam-Webster Online as “a person who engages in irregular warfare, especially as a member of an independent unit carrying out harassment and sabotage.”

Guerrilla marketing relies on irregular, creative, unconventional means of reaching the public, usually through free or low-budget methods. We are accustomed (and perhaps inured) to seeing billboards, magazine ads, and television spots, all touting the virtue and value of many kinds of products and services we are being asked to buy. Guerrilla marketing operates through messages on escalator handrails, “takeout billboards” like coffee sleeves, pizza boxes, and Chinese takeout boxes, and free product samples handed out on the street.

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