this practice is not without controversy, however; in one case a city-run street art project in lapa was used to promote a beer brand, which raised ethical questions in the community.  

another tactic is to simply allow graffiti on a large scale in places such as the (now lost) wall around the jockey club, and the many homes of the morro dos prazeres, a favela near the charming santa teresa.

places like these foster competition between aspiring artists, and elevate the state of the art as a whole - as the expectation when creating so many pieces of art in such close proximity is that each must be better than the one before.

in addition, they create new opportunities for preexisting locations - both tourists and locals flock to these mass exhibitions to admire cutting edge urban art.