Triple J Beat the Drum ???

Courtesy SMH Stay In Touch Column 14/6/07

Palestinian militants clash in Gaza City, images of masked gunmen are flooding the international wires. But when the latest pics arrived from Agence France-Presse, we couldn't help noticing a certain red drum grafittied on a city wall.

Is it mere coincidence that this scribble strongly resembles the Triple J logo, one that the radio station asked listeners to emblazon in wild and wacky places in an effort to win its "beat the drum" competitions? Triple J's station manager, Linda Bracken, says the last competition was in 2004 but the station regularly received reports of the drum popping up all over the globe. Bracken recalls sightings in the Canadian snowfields and at a restaurant in Beijing, but says: "Palestine would be a first. It's pretty remarkable."

Not only are the Palestinians (perhaps) making a bid to post the most far-flung Triple J logo on Gaza's grey walls, but beside the drum is the web address of Paul Castle Consultancy, "traffic data collection and presentation services". We're unsure of the synchronicity of the graf art, but if the "beat the drum" comp returns, it would be hard for the judges to ignore this.

Can you explain how the logo got into the world's latest war zone?