Hard Spam

Sometimes spam doesn’t hide in your inbox. It glows in a pharmacy window.

Shot on a quiet evening walk, this storefront display in Rome—or somewhere very much like it—caught my attention with the subtlety of a neon bullhorn. A perfectly literal interpretation of hard advertising: Viagra, Levitra, Cialis. Bold red font, urgent discounts, official decree cited. Street-level pharma meets street-level comedy.

The scene is absurdly human. Framed by a closed shutter and a lonely Gaviscon box, the paper sign is taped like a last-minute school notice, but the message is anything but shy. There’s no algorithm, no clickbait. Just unapologetic, front-facing capital letters offering a prescription-strength punchline.

It’s spam—but analogue. No filters, no tracking cookies, no unsubscribe button. Just an honest, physical reminder that the line between medicine and marketing is often as thin as the tape that holds this sign up.

And unlike digital spam, this one might actually work.