Archie Gottesman, ad guru behind famed Manhattan Storage billboards, now making pro-Israel advertisements
She’s working hard to pack antisemitism away for good.
Archie Gottesman, the advertising guru behind Manhattan Mini Storage’s iconic billboard ads, is now focusing her talents on a new campaign — calling out the growing hatred against Jews.
The 60-year-old Manhattan mom of three — who is responsible for the company’s cheeky taglines such as “Oh yeah, you’ll fit right in in Connecticut” — is also the copywriter for the controversial JewBelong ads that have gone up on highway signs around the country.
With slogans such as “Oh, don’t be naive. Hamas would chop your head off too,” the ads have drawn criticism and vandalism — but Gottesman has no regrets.
“I’m surprised by the vitriol and anger – it’s insane seeing how much hate there is out there. With all the things going on in the world – all the wars and problems – there’s really deep antisemitism that still surprises me,” she told the Post.
Gottesman said that after the horror of the Oct. 7 attacks and the rise in antisemitism that began globally, she knew she could use her skills to fight more than just New York’s lack of closet space. So she decided to come up with the provocative lines that JewBelong put on some 500 billboards around the nation.
“I know my way around a billboard and I know that outdoor advertising works, so it was a natural fit to take what I had learned at MMS and use that for different messaging — supporting the Jewish people and fighting antisemitism,” she said.
“It’s a very different product — selling self storage and now selling ‘joyous Judaism’ — but it’s the same skill set, messaging in billboards.”
JewBelong, which started in 2017, has put billboards up in diverse places around the country as part of the campaign — and some 19 of them have been subject to anti-Israel vandalism.
In Louisville, Ky, a sign that said “Let’s be clear: Hamas is your problem too” was hit by graffiti, as was a sign near a college campus in Washington DC that said “Can a billboard end antisemitism? No. But you’re not a billboard.”
One in Berkeley, Calif. that read “We’re just 78 years since the gas chambers. So no, a billboard calling out Jew hate is not an overreaction” was defaced with graffiti that read “Support Al Aqsa Flood,” which was the Hamas codename for the Oct. 7 terror attack.
The strongest response came when the billboard with the slogan that said “Hamas would chop your head off too,” got over 100 complaints to police in Bergen County, NJ, and was taken down by the group.
But the ad maven said no amount of graffiti and opposition will stop her.
“It fuels me more and our ancestors went through worse – we are not going to stop because of some spray paint,” she said.
She said she hoped that, despite the blowback, the billboards can help spread a message that counters what she sees as a growing anti-Israel slant in the media.
“The pro-Hamas people are really good at messaging and framing their narrative,” she said. “JewBelong wants to show their narrative is a lie. They didn’t bomb the [al Shifa] hospital and IDF soldiers haven’t raped women. We’ve got to frame our own narrative.”
She also hopes to ease some of the fear her fellow Jews feel.
“Being Jewish is really scary these days,” said Gottesman. “I was never fearful of being Jewish. It shows what a crazy world this is.”
She said that her adult daughter felt that fear when she narrowly escaped harm after being tailed by a crazed man caught ripping down missing person posters downtown in November. The incident was reported as a hate crime and the individual was later arrested.
Now, two of her daughters started to learn Krav Maga – the Israeli martial art in self-defense – as a precaution.
“There’s a lot of hate out there,” lamented Gottesman.
The self-avowed “feminist” said that she once considered herself a loyal Democrat — as was seen in many of her Manhattan storage messages supporting things like abortion and LGBT rights — but has moved to the center as some in the party were quick to condemn Israel.
“I feel politically homeless. I’m a real centrist at this point, like I think a lot of Americans are,” she said.
“I worry that some in the Democratic party are becoming anti-Israel,” she said quickly adding, “But most are not. It’s some voices trying to pull people to be polarized.”
Quoting her own billboard she added: “Just because you’re louder doesn’t mean you’re right.”
