Oakhurst will soon have a mural filled with people, flowers, and bees painted by local artist Olive47. The mural is part of a “Feed A Bee” Public Service Announcement. The project is designed to bring awareness to the decline in bee populations and will feature the artist creating a mural of people, flowers, and bees. It will also have people planting flowers which along with the mural will be left behind for the community to enjoy.
The mural will be painted on private property on a wall that faces Harmony Park (on the side of the building with One Step At A Time). They will build a raised bed on the granite slab and plant flowers that draw pollinators such as bees and butterflies. This mural is not an advertisement and will not have advertising on it.
The public education campaign associated with the painting and filming of the mural is designed to help people understand the importance of helping feed bees.
I am looking forward to this beautiful mural.
I don’t mind a new mural overlooking the newly redone Harmony Park but it should not be part of a controversial corporate public relations campaign. The “Feed A Bee” campaign is a propaganda campaign for Bayer cloaked as a public service campaign. If you go to feedabee.com you will see that Bayer puts their logo on almost every image. Bayer is the world’s leading producer of neonicotinoids that have been suspected to cause bee decline and “Feed A Bee” is part of their campaign to counter the argument. http://www.pressherald.com/2015/11/23/pesticide-makers-mount-campaign-to-blame-to-other-culprits-in-bee-die-offs/
The “Feed A Bee” program is nothing but a corporate P.R. sham by Bayer to try re-shape the narrative on the negative environmental effects of the products they sell.
“Bayer produces three of the world’s top five neonic pesticides in a worldwide market estimated to be worth about $3 billion… {Bayer} is fighting pressure from regulators in the U.S. and Europe with publicity campaigns and lobbying aimed at telling people that neonics are beneficial and safe when used correctly, and that bees face greater peril from parasites, pathogens and poor diets as wild flowering plants diminish.”
http://www.newsobserver.com/…/busi…/article46131245.html
You stated in your article that the mural was not an advertisement and would not have advertising on it. Today Decaturish posted an article about the mural which included a rendering of the finished mural provided by the artist which depicts Bayer’s FeedABee logo and name in the upper left of the mural. FeedABee is a corporate campaign and website of Bayer Crop Science and this use of this name and logo on the mural makes the mural fit the description of a billboard according to Decatur’s code of ordinances which is a violation of the official code of Decatur.
Darn it. I have to agree with the detractors. I already miss the original mural that used to grace our little park. http://realty4atlanta.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/10/Mural.jpg. I’m sure the artist is quite talented, but I’m no fan of the cartoonish clipart style. Sorry. Seems like a disservice to the extraordinary biology and life of bees. Check out the honey bee mural on the side of the Wylde center building (https://atlatheart.files.wordpress.com/2015/04/21.jpg). Nice! Maybe this thinly veiled propaganda piece will end up raising awareness about pesticides and their effects on honey bees. Also, my son is disappointed the proposed rainbow does not follow the roygbiv pattern. Haha. What’s the next campaign?
Followup: I asked the artist about the FeedABee logo and name on her rendering and she said that it would not be on the mural so that’s good.
Orta, Now that you mention the non-ROYGBV rainbow, it’s bothering me too. Maybe your son should talk to her and convince her to make the color arrangement more natural. 🙂