[citation needed] It is an advertising tactic mostly used by small businesses promoting concerts and political activist groups, but there have been occasions where international companies subcontracted local advertising agencies for flyposting jobs in order not to get caught in illegal behavior, as a form of guerrilla marketing.
In 2004, Sony Music and BMG were threatened with anti-social behaviour orders by Camden Borough Council for illegal flyposting.
[2] In an effort to discourage illegal flyposting, surfaces at risk of it are sometimes permanently signed Post No Bills (US), No Flyposting (UK), or Défense d'afficher - loi du 29 juillet 1881 (France), a reference to a law passed in 1881 that regulates the display of advertisements in public spaces.
While flyposting is commonplace, it is often viewed as a nuisance by landlords and they can take civil action to protect their property rights.
In the case of the 2007 Boston Mooninite panic, advertisers had placed electronic signboards without notifying local authorities, prompting a costly reaction by the Boston Police Department bomb squad when the signs were mistaken for bombs.