MOCA's 2001 Awareness Campaign Criticized as Conceptual Stupidity

In 2001, the Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA) in Los Angeles launched a large-scale advertising campaign in collaboration with TBWA/Chiat/Day to boost its brand image. The campaign saturated urban spaces and media—billboards, TV, mouse pads, newspapers, and invitation cards—with cryptic messages like "Public Perception (Work in Progress), 2001" and "People Scurrying About in a Windowless Structure, 2001." Critic James Scarborough, writing for artpress, lambasted the effort as oscillating between commercial suicide and conceptual stupidity. He argued the ads were neither amusing, stimulating, nor informative, failing to explain exhibitions or attract new audiences. Scarborough noted that the campaign's esoteric, ironic tone only reinforced negative stereotypes about MOCA as distant and incomprehensible. He compared it unfavorably to Apple's iMac campaign and suggested that while it could be read as a conceptual prank—a collaboration between curators and advertisers—the "Courtesy of MOCA" tagline undermined any self-mockery, instead asserting ownership over the urban landscape. Scarborough concluded that the campaign amounted to thought control, polluting the intellectual environment rather than improving the museum's standing.