The massage is the message

Is the public getting gatvol of bad news? Clearly someone is - and is trying to spread a little cheer.

Yesterday, grim newspaper posters on Cape Town lampposts were covered with white pieces of paper that said things like "Have a lekker Monday!" and "You are awesome!!".

The feel-good campaign ran along a main artery in the southern suburbs of Cape Town, stretching from Claremont to Observatory.

The newspapers which fell victim to the guerrilla tactics were the Cape Times, the Cape Argus and the Daily Voice, all of which belong to Independent Newspapers South Africa.

Communications head Lutfia Vayej said: "We actually have no idea who did this."

Jermaine Craig, outgoing editor of the Cape Argus, said: "Naturally, the posters are the property of Independent Newspapers and we will act if need be to ensure there is no abuse of our property and that our titles' day-to-day posters are not obscured going forward. But we've had a chuckle about it today."

In Johannesburg last year, fake posters from The Star appeared on the trendy 7th Avenue in Parkhurst, bearing headlines such as "Zuma hates the Guptas", "ANC is racist, says Zuma" and "Mandela family: Voetsek, Zuma".

Will posters like this form part of a new "happy campaign", such as the various initiatives kickstarted by Pharrell Williams's smash hit song Happy last year?

Last year, more than a million viewers watched the Happy South Africa music video. After that, Cape Town made its own music video.

As for the posters: Neither Tokolos Stencils nor XCollective - the two main suspects - was available for comment about the latest underground poster project. Neither were officials working for the Mother City.