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Why Is the UK's Intelligence Agency Advertising Jobs With Graffiti?

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On the streets of UK cities, there’s an unexpected form of graffiti appearing. It’s not tags of spray paint, but instead job ads, scrawled onto sidewalks, prompting people to apply for a job at the nation’s intelligence headquarters, GCHQ.

It’s part, we guess, of the UK’s pledged commitment to built a British ‘elite cyber offensive force’ to join the digital war on ISIS. But, as this Guardian article points out, the ads have been appearing in hip UK locations, such as London’s Shoreditch—where many digital start-ups now choose to set up shop. The newspaper suggests that advertising in cities could help the government to attract talent that may not otherwise have realised the opportunities open to them, not least because the GCHQ offices are in rather more sleepy, less urban locations.

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The ads themselves aren’t sprayed in paint, but instead created using stencils and high-pressure washers, to lift dirt off the sidewalk and create a temporary. The ads have so far appeared in Manchester, Birmingham, Leeds, Wolverhampton and London.

[Guardian]

Image embedded from Getty