1.

theres even a "bridges and tunnels crowd, you rule" sign. i think its virgin mobile ad(vertecture) campaign. this sign was huge.

2.

if I had a plan with them I would cancel it based on those ads

3.

hilarious! those ads are terrific! way to go!

4.

Those ads seem designed to make you feel bad about your neighborhood. Pretty dumbo.

5.

Anyone seen the Upper West Side one? Curious to know what it says.

6.

Wheres my Chinatown!

7.

this is great. they are all true and people don't like the truth. haha. these are awesome!

8.

those are great!

Now, which one of you LOSERS, are going to say these ads are illegal?

Come out from wherever you are!!

9.

Stupid ads.

I wonder how many subscription plans they sell. I would guess none.

10.

#9: That's right. They sell NO plans. I believe Virgin Mobile operates on a prepaid or minutes-used basis without the need for a "plan."

11.

That's how stupid these ads are. I can't tell what the hell they're selling.

12.

I think they missed the mark with the Murray Hill one ...

Murray Hill,

You Rule.

You made it over the bridge. You survived the tunnel. Now it's time to chill out in your new deluxe apartment in the sky. There's no shame in getting some help from your parents. That's how The Donald started. And after a day of working hard with the Bulls and the Bears, you certainly know how to play hard. The question isn't whether to go out, it's where to go. The world is your oyster, and it's all on Third Avenue for you to scoop up. Maybe check out the Yanks at Joshua Tree, or hit the rooftop at Tonic to hang with the honeys and the hunks. You have a lot of choices. And that's just how you like it. And choices are what you have with a cell phone plan with no annual contract.

/puke

13.

Brownstoner has one from Bed-Stuy where the person behind these campaigns chimed in and asked for the readers suggestions on how to change it.

http://brownstoner.com/brownstoner/archives/2007/06/a_message_from.php?comments=10#comments

14.

It's not so much whether there's truth or not toaster, there actually is some, it's just the way they're presenting it- sort of like "in case you're a dummy and you didn't actually know this stuff". Slapped on placards glaring at people- it's really pretentious I think.

15.

I wanna see one for Washington Heights or Inwood. HAAA!!

16.

the Chelsea one is just offensive.

17.

haha i love it! virgin is hilarious. and their plane rides are by far the best (for coach class). mr. branson, will you marry me?

18.

Washington Heights / Inwood

So you're not the Upper West Side, just admit that you can't afford to live there, and you settled for this. Hey, there's no shame in eating KFC, or shopping at El Mundo! So what if it's hellishly noisy- think of the money you're saving on a Sound System! All you have to do is open your window- it's all right there!

19.

The line about how they're just "old, wrinkled, out of shape" is just plain mean. That's nasty. This is a marketed ad campaign using this language??

20.

WOW - that Chelsea ad serious emasculates me!

21.

#8 the ads are not illegal. Offensive, stereotyped and bigoted yes, illegal no.

22.

#12 Rules. Watch out for the Don though. He doesn't like when you point out that he came from money.

23.

Upper West is so liberal and blue its like purple; upper west siders push strollers from Riverside Park at 10:30, and other such stuff.

24.

EAST VILLAGE, YOU RULE! We know your much coller than the RENT-ified fake East Village. Plus we know you have far fewer AIDS cases. Sure, your fourth floor walk ups are shared inhabited by guys who sleep on the couch and work at Sizzler and chicks with electric blue hair and sleeve tats working on her sixth suicide attempt (this year). You have the cheapest beer and frozen margaritas and your Sunday brunches rock. We do hope they sweep out the last remnants of vagrants from the park but without a few needleheads and bums, you're a hop, skip and a jump from being Gramercy! Kudos to you East Village, we know you're dominicans aren't really that bad. Here's to Avenue A, B, C and, ummm, well maybe not D. Here's to your $1400 PSF condo's and your yuppified bodegas and your disappearing delis and cheese shops and your utter lack of appropriate wine shops!!! God bless you East Village, er um, I mean, Unknowable Superior Force Bless you East Village!! And vote yes on the Gay Marriage Ban!!, I mean Amendment!!!

25.

where's the williamsburg one? someone out there is sharpening their mental knifes, getting ready to drop some hot sarcasm...

26.

*knives

27.

New Ad campaign coming from Boost Mobile -

Yo Nig@@z you rule, Where You At!

Get the new 'My Nig@@z' plan. Free calling and texting to all your Nig@@z, free 5-0 tracking service and a free camera phone with hosting site so you can upload pictures of all those p#ssy a$$ yuppies after you give em a good beatin! As always, no credit=no problem with convenient pay-as-youz-go or our limited time 45% interest rate - "Crooklyn credit plan"

28.

what's with the sutton place slam? right, cause people would rather live in the b&t hell of murray hill than sutton place?

29.

I think the ads are kind of funny. I saw an UES one on the corner of 75th & 2nd. I wish I saw the Bridge & Tunnel one!

30.

Why does Virgin assume everyone in Chelsea is gay?

31.

i've lost all respect for virgin-and i used to think that they were cool.

32.

Are these supposed to be in their neighborhoods? Because the LES one is in the EV (north side of Houston at B) at a bus stop (M21) that never goes to the LES).

Ad Agency That Can't Find the Promotional NFT's You Had Imprinted For Last Year's Holiday Gift You Rule!

33.

#32-- north side of Houston is LES. In fact, most of East Village is LES. South of 14th Street and east of 2nd is in fact is LES. East Village is a subset of the LES, minted in the 90s by the real estate brokers a la "Clinton", "FiDi", "NoLITa", "NoHo" and other imaginary micro-nabes.

34.

Hudson Heights, U RULE!!!

35.

#30:

If you are not gay and live in Chelsea...well, that's pretty gay.

36.

Jesus, christ, what are you guys talking about? These ads are fucking unbeliveably bad. Every one has its own, special cringe-inducing lameness. PLenty of companies have created smart, funny ads that spoke to a hood's obvious character--like, say, Chelsea's steroidal gay clubland. From phone-sex companies to Broadway plays to anti-meth campaigns, many agencies have done this kind of marketing well. In all of its hoods, this VIrgin Mobile agency has not. Ouch. Take them down soon, please.

37.

people who dig these ads are the problem with this country at present. these ads are unreal bad.

38.

Y'all suckers can make fun of VM and Jayne Wallace all you want, but you gotta admit they do seem to have hit a nerve here – I mean, isn’t this the second thread on Brownstoner alone (not to mention the two or three on Curbed)? Is it unfathomable that people like Jayne (no doubt a transplant…) and her well-paid staff foresaw just how provocative these ads would be to New Yorkers? Don't you see how these ads prey on so many of our insecurities - what better way to get our attention than bombard us with the “clumsy” attempts of an "outsider" trying to classify and homogenize us with decidedly dorky little sound bites about where we live. Can't you just see Jayne and her team of amateur taxonomists writing about us on a whiteboard somewhere (reads: somewhere on Madison Avenue): "confrontational", "hubristic", "self-important", "uber-colloquial"… Isn’t it kind of ironic that whether we've lived here for six weeks or six generations, the only tie that truly binds us all together as New Yorkers is our uncanny willingness to be defined by our own smug sense of micronabe terroir? They might as well have called this campaign "Revenge of the Transplanted Mid-Westerners"...
Whether your notion of “ruling” is stealing one of their neighborhood-appropriate ads off the street and hanging it up on the eggshell-white walls of your freshly-rented railroad apartment or writing even snarkier ad copy than they have, showing those stupid-ass, FOTB Ohio-bred ad people just how much smarter and more authentic you are than them or simply saying how lame / wrong / B&T / offensive / great / unreal bad the campaign is it doesn’t really matter. Because either way, as long as you've got an opinion about VM and share it with others, you’re doing their bidding for them – see, You Do Rule!
And just remember, don’t think for a second that these ad guys’ actual job is selling phones and minutes to people with bad credit – they’ll leave that to the Haitian and Israeli guys on the front lines. Their job is to get people talking about VM’s ad campaign enough that other ad people and, more importantly, other advertisers can’t help but take note of the buzz they’ve created – that’s how they get paid…

p.s. – I’m born and bred, I don’t work in advertising and I do still live here – and yes, it’s taking every ounce of willpower I have not to tell you where…

39.

I am sorry, me likey. I am a real estate pro, work updown, own downtown, and my parents are from Ohio, so there. I am a native New Yorker and I think they are funny. Get a sense of humor, Curbies!

40.

I have to agree with #12. I'm so shocked that at least 50% of the coop/condo owners in Murray Hill are assisted by their parents.

I am appalled that PARENTS from Long Island would drive their MINIvans and stock up their CHILDREN's pantry from COSTCO.

At 25, you would've thought they would live independent lives. This is truly a sad state of NYC.

Even at that age, I would never ask my divorced parents to assist me in any way.

Hugs and Kisses!

41.

Curbed readers who dislike these ads, U Rule! You don't care that your lives are so lame that you let an ad campaign get on your nerves! HELL NO! You're too ignorant to realize that you're a hypocrite for getting offended when your neighborhood is identified with a stereotype only to turn around and claim that some other neighborhood is worse! Screw the contradictions! FU Virgin! Sutton Place Doesn't suck and Murray Hill does! Now THAT's bold! Washington Heights..well DAMN! At least you're on the island, baby! Take a moment to recognize your achievement! It's all about the bitter! C'mon Chelsea! Giggle this one off with your strut! You're name could be "Meat Packing", which would literally insinualte far more about your eccentricity. Well done on dodging THAT bullet! That's right Curbed readers who dislike these ads! You love your neighborhoods and your bus stops! You're really gonna stick it to Virgin by not using their network! U Rule!

42.

People, calm down. It's clever. The truth hurts, good or bad. All the Hoods are original and unique. The ads are all pretty dead on. In a month or so, they will be gone and replaced with some bad horror movie campaign. Calm down.

43.

Generally speaking I laugh my ass off on these comment boards, but this thread is a complete waste. The ads are stupid, you're stupid.

I'm going to f5 this until I see a brilliant takedown of Williamsburg.