Merck put blood-in-urine warnings where men pee, in Banksy-style graffiti

Bladder cancer's most common early warning is blood in urine, yet most people do not know the sign, so the disease is often found late. Merck wanted to make the symptom impossible to ignore without lecturing anyone.

VML Milan created 'The Peeing People', a series of stencil graffiti styled after Banksy — an artist everyone recognizes and photographs. The figures appear mid-stream in the places where nature calls: alleyways, sidewalks and public restrooms, with blood visible in the urine stream.

Each artwork pairs the shock of the image with a QR code that leads to an awareness site where the viewer can read about the symptom and book an appointment with a doctor. The placement does the targeting: the audience is already in the situation the message describes.

The campaign ran across cities and countries, using the street as media, and turned a taboo subject into something people stopped, stared at and photographed — which multiplied its reach.