A Sydney resident angered by the rising cost of living and the major supermarkets' huge profit margins has decided to protest using paint.
Bondi-based artist NotNot has turned to grocery store graffiti in order to get his point across to Coles and Woolworths.
"When they released those profits, yeah it's kind of hard to see anything but that, so had to push back with a little bit of piss-take artwork," he told 9News.
Posing as a tradie, the artist walked into three stores in Sydney's eastern suburbs and altered the signage.
"I often wear high-vis when I'm doing my work because people just accept it… I kind of like that about Australia, everyone respects the council worker, the construction worker to do their job. Get in, get out," he said.
In Coles he screen printed the words "down down, morality down" alongside the supermarket's logo, while Woolworths was branded "the price gouge people".
The graffiti was promptly removed from stores and the artist received a visit from police.
"It's the job of an artist to hold a mirror to society, and if Coles and Woolies don't like the look of their reflection, they should probably change what they're doing," NotNot said.
Both supermarkets issued statements relating to the graffiti.
"We know cost-of-living pressures are front-of-mind for our customers and are always looking for ways to help their dollars stretch further," Coles said.
Woolworths said: "We're acutely aware of the pressure that's being placed on Australian families through cost of living increases, whether they are our customers or our team members."
