Bne

[Boater]

Everywhere in Bangkok i see BNE stickers and signs

what is it? as i tried doing a google search but nothing came up

cheers

[bkkjames]

Seen them as well.

Struggling street artist, new politcal party, old guy on Soi 22?

one beer to the first person to get it correct and make the idiot clean up all those signs and spray paint.

[lesdunbar]

G,Day All,

Dont know what the BNE in Bangkok stands for? But in airline codes it means Brisbane , Australia.?

Cheers,

lesdunbar

[Insight]

From 2006:

Seems to be a recent "surge" again in BKK, both stickers and graffiti.

[Boater]

G,Day All,

Dont know what the BNE in Bangkok stands for? But in airline codes it means Brisbane , Australia.?

Cheers,

lesdunbar

yeah thats all i got when i googled

[bkkjames]

G,Day All,

Dont know what the BNE in Bangkok stands for? But in airline codes it means Brisbane , Australia.?

Cheers,

lesdunbar

So Les, you are saying Brisbane was here? ok mate. got it thanks.

[CarlBkk]

I assume it's some hip hop loving international student trying extra hard to bring the street style to Bangkok. After attention and notoriety and cred resulting from spending money on stickers for no reason. Just what Bangkok doesn't need...more eyesores. Looking forward to him getting done.

[YHJB]

3w's . bne .co .il ...................................Hippys music web site.................This is the most logical.............as the japanese symbols mean to visit.....so visit the web site?????

Or is it an NSA,CIA,FBI,MI6,MI5 conspiracy to brainwash & enslave the world with I want to be part of the yankee dream?

Just sounds like a good con job of some sorts, hats off to the players. Well done for upsetting the establishment!!

[bkkjames]

3w's . bne .co .il ...................................Hippys music web site.................This is the most logical.............as the japanese symbols mean to visit.....so visit the web site?????

Or is it an NSA,CIA,FBI,MI6,MI5 conspiracy to brainwash & enslave the world with I want to be part of the yankee dream?

Just sounds like a good con job of some sorts, hats off to the players. Well done for upsetting the establishment!!

Stop congratulating yourself and just go remove all of them.

[ashacat]

The stickers have been around for ages (although as someone else said there has been a fresh batch done recently). They have also been spotted in the US, Japan, Hong Kong etc etc... Someone's got too much time on their hands.

[Baa_Mango]

all city!

[barrybike]

BAN NUCLEAR ENERGY..............ecco warriors

[PattayaParent]

BAN NUCLEAR ENERGY..............ecco warriors

Bangkok Needs Electricity.............pro-nuclear advocates.

Edited March 6, 2009 by PattayaParent

[Boater]

Bangkok Needs Electricity.............pro-nuclear advocates

lol

[mangoman007]

Bangkok Needs Electricity.............pro-nuclear advocates

lol

Come on now, Be Nice Everybody! (get it?)

[Wolfie]

Looks to be some marketing strategy or something for a fashion brand - i've looked around and asked a lot of people and the only thing i can dig up is this...

http://bkkstreethunter.blogspot.com/2009/0...in-bangkok.html

[daxbr]

Making a Name for Himself, With Just 3 Letters

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/09/nyregion...BfXihb+YppfMntw

[-noodles-]

I've seen them in Hong Kong, Bangkok, KL, Chicago and Australia.

In 2006, the mayor of San Francisco offered a $2,500 reward to apprehend the guy, not much when it was estimated to cost the city $1 million USD a month to keep under control. Apparently Thailand and Japan have been hit hard recently.

“BNE has arrived!” - well that’s what the stickers tell us. What stickers? If you don’t know, then you either don’t live in any one of many big cities around the world where they are now officially everywhere, or you just don’t get out very much.

These BNE stickers have become the centre of a baffling worldwide “who dunnit” involving stickers, and graffiti in an ever increasing number of well known international destinations. Living in Tokyo, we have noticed these stickers are appearing more and more, and more interestingly continue to be replaced even after authorities remove them! They are distinctive and all feature black, block characters, on a white background, and while having a number of variations, all deliver the same message that BNE is here. What is BNE is here to do? That is still anyone’s guess, and apart from his adhesive efforts, there has been little influence

“B-N-E”: the three letters stand for what has become an international mystery. From Hong Kong to Kuala Lumpur, New York to Prague, and now Tokyo and Osaka, the acronym has been plastered on phone boxes, walls, newspaper dispensers, vending machines, parking meters and street signs. When the culprit becomes tired of stickers, he (we refer to BNE as a he, as he often refers to himself as “King BNE”) switches to spray paint, and even permanent marker. San Francisco has been plagued with the stickers since early 2006, and the mayor, Gavin Newsom is absolutely furious. He has made several news appearances promising to prosecute Mr. BNE to the extent of the law.

So, what does it all mean? Theories are bouncing around the web, and even have had air time on international news networks. Some ideas for the acronym (despite being lame efforts) are, “Be Nowhere Else”, “Big Nuclear Explosion” and “Breaking ‘n’ Entering”. However, there is still no definitive answer to the puzzle that has police in at least 6 nations running wild goose chases for the vandal that is spreading an unknown message to tens of millions of people around the globe. (BNE is also the 3 letter international location code for Brisbane, Australia. It is also the name for an Israeli music production company called BNE (Brand New Entertainment). However it would be extremely disappointing to learn that this code that has stumped us all for over a year now, amounted to nothing more than the Sunshine State’s capital city, or a local music company in the holy land).

San Francisco police first noted the menace in May 2005, but since then, BNE has gone worldwide, and has an overwhelming presence here in Tokyo only in the last 6 months, with stickers now visible in every nook and cranny of each of the major city centers of Tokyo, even extending out to the suburbs. The BNE revolution (as some call it) has drawn so much attention here in Japan, that it has been featured quite regularly in the media also. This is a short clip, from the news, on location in Tokyo. The reporter finds BNE presence in Akihabara, Shinjuku, Shibuya and even Harajuku and Omotesando! (The clip is in Japanese, but that shouldn’t stop you from enjoying it):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-IdSriLjS6c

American news stations believe BNE is from Japan, due to the fact that the acronym is regularly displayed with the Japanese word ?? (Sanjyo, meaning “arrived” or “is here”). However, it could simply mean “BNE was here” (as amateur spray paint graffiti vandals often like to let us know), using the Japanese word for the same to deepen the wild theories that so many are brewing, and seems to be working well so far to that end.

Interestingly enough, there was quite a widespread computer virus that infected computer systems around the world soon after BNE started “arriving” that contained the three letters “BNE” in its name (Win32.Rbot.BNE). There are many references on the Internet linking the sticker culprits, and the hackers behind the virus, but as expected, proof of it has not been ascertained.

Whoever BNE is, he has carried out one of the most successful, low budget and viral brand recognition campaigns I have ever seen. What it is exactly that he wants, or is trying to tell us, remains in the dark… at least for now. Of his several different variations of sticker, some feature a halo and the number 1 as to the left, and as yet, these subtle symbols are as baffling to us as the three letters themselves.

The most believable explanation for BNE the “Benet” theory. “Benet”, as he is known, is a prolific graffiti artist from San Francisco. Allegedly, he writes his name in overdone bubble graffiti letters. The reason he is linked to BNE is that apparently he signs his graffiti with the block letter initials “BNE”.

Although, the BNE stickers have become more widely known than his graffiti artwork, and he himself remains elusive to police, despite his popularity among cult graffiti artists. Benet is said to also have visited Tokyo a few times, around the same time when stickers started to appear on the streets here. One comment on a blog I visited recounts the writer having an alleged run in with Benet at Club Milk in Ebisu, where he was hanging out with the likes of several other “celebrities”. When the blogger approached Benet with comments of adoration of his work, Benet ignored him, and was “cold and rude” according to the post.

[wallcracks]

the new ones say BNE Water org appeared a view month ago just around 2. weeks ago I saw one BNE WAS HERE sticker on top of the Pagoda of Wat Arun ....

[ChristopherWilliamsBKK]

a little less banksy

but a lot more dj dominator

for those in the know

[Ulysses G.]

We have those in Chiang Mai too, but headshot stickers of Thai Visa member Ian Forbes are much more popular.