Massive avocado mural lands advertising firm Apparition Media five-figure court fine

A leading advertising company has copped a hefty fine for erecting a massive billboard advertising Australian-grown avocados on the side of a Sydney unit block. But the company’s co-founder has argued the work was ‘patriotic’.

A leading advertising company has been served a five-figure fine for erecting a massive billboard advertisement for Australian-grown avocados on the side of an inner Sydney unit block.

Apparition Media was fined $30,000 in the NSW Local Court on Monday for painting the 36.8m tall fruit-themed mural on the northern side of a Darlinghurst apartment building without seeking the consent of City of Sydney planners in 2021.

The handpainted mural, displayed over a two-week period, was aimed at raising the profile of the Australian fruit and carried a photo of an avocado along with words stating: “our green gold Australian avocados”.

The City of Sydney – which took the case to court – argued the mural was displayed within a local heritage conservation area without any approval from the council and claimed it had been installed with a motivation to seek “corporate gain”.

Tyson Hunter, co-founder of Apparition Media, told the court he believed the advertisement was “patriotic” due to its display of green and gold colours during the lead up to the delayed 2021 Tokyo Olympics.

A photo of the mural which was displayed in a local heritage conservation area.

The mural measured 36.8m in height.

Mr Hunter told the court he did not seek council approval because the artwork was commissioned on an “urgent basis” and he had concerns that delays in the approval process may have resulted in Apparition Media losing the $141,000 commission.

Mr Hunter further argued the mural was a way of supporting struggling Australian avocado farmers who had been impacted by successive bushfires and drought.

The company was sentenced in the Downing Centre court on Monday.

“I knew if Apparition Media waited for approval to be processed, Apparition would lose the commission. I certainly did not know the mural would be categorised as a prohibited development,” he submitted to the court.

Apparition Media, based in Melbourne, is widely known within the advertising industry for its detailed hand painted murals.

But the court heard it also has a history of erecting murals without council approval including the well-known Adam Goodes mural in Sydney and a Nicole Kidman mural advertising the 2020 television series The Undoing, which was installed on the same Darlinghurst building that featured the avocado mural.

Mr Hunter told the court the City of Sydney had previously been “very supportive” of the Adam Goodes mural, which was granted retrospective approval by the council, and further argued the council had displayed an “inconsistency” and “leniency” in the way it handles artworks in the community.

A photo of the Nicole Kidman mural, displayed on the same Darlinghurst unit block.

A photo of the well-known Adam Goodes mural.

Magistrate Christine Haskett, however, noted the Adam Goodes mural was “a much smaller artwork and contained no text”.

In her findings, Ms Haskett said Apparition Media was aware it needed to gain council consent and found the unauthorised avocado work was an offence under environmental planning and assessment laws.

“A significant amount of work and due diligence went into this mural but that work did not extend to (seeking) expert advice into the permissibility of the development,” she said.

“Quite simply, (Apparition Media) should not have carried out the development in circumstances where it knew or ought to have known it was prohibited.”

In sentencing, Magistrate Haskett noted Apparition Media had expressed remorse and contrition for the offence but also found there was a need to set a penalty that would serve as a “deterrent”.

She fined the company $40,000, which was reduced to $30,000 to reflect the company’s guilty plea, and ordered it to pay the council’s legal costs.