For years, the Tour de France has been a spectacle of hardships, triumphs, and beautiful landscapes, but there's another less official "tradition" that punctually repeats itself: the graffiti decorating the asphalt and walls along the route. Some are simple encouragements and witty wordplays, while others are more vulgar drawings like phallic shapes.

A familiar problem for organizers, who every year deploy a team of silent heroes, the Eraser Men (literally "The Men with the Eraser"), to make these "artworks" disappear before television helicopters can immortalize them. This year on the roads of France, something changed. The usual censorship routine was replaced by a brilliant idea. As reported by Famous Campaigns, sponsor Skoda decided not to cover these drawings, but to use them. They transformed a childish tradition into a global platform to promote the Tour de France Femmes.

Out with the eraser, in with creativity. Škoda hired a team of female artists, including French artist Celine Dormeau and London-based Erin Aniker, who transform penises into captivating and impossible-to-ignore drawings. Think about it: an artwork blooming from an act of vandalism. It's like growing a flower in the middle of concrete, or, staying on theme, an important message from an overly exuberant paint stroke. The cameras, which would previously have scanned the route to avoid "uncomfortable" images, this year found themselves framing colorful and meaningful works.

Each was accompanied by the hashtag #WatchTheFemmes, an unequivocal invitation for cycling fans to tune into the women's grand tour, which this weekend will conclude with the awarding of the coveted yellow jersey. A playful but decidedly targeted move, implemented by the points classification sponsor, which supports both the men's and women's Tour with its fleet of 220 electric vehicles.

photo Famous Campaigns