It’s situational. Not every solution and not every attempt at a solution is appropriate for every instance of graffiti, so neither of the choices you’ve offered apply each time. Additionally, your two choices are not the only methods for addressing the problem, so the realm of possibilities is more vast than just your two.
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I belonged to a group of volunteers who do neighborhood cleanups, which includes stamping out graffiti. Early on, the people in charge tried using spray paint to paint out spray-painted graffiti, in this case, it was on cinderblock walls. They used can after can to cover over each letter in the words that were emblazoned on the walls, yet they used a mere single coat. I suggested that instead of just going over the letters with spray paint, it would be more effective to use a brush or a roller and create a large “patch” that blocked out not only the letters themselves, but also the background area behind the entire part that was graffitied. They dismissed my suggestions as too costly and too time-consuming. Fine. Ten to fifteen minutes after they were finished spray painting, the new paint seeped into the old dry paint, and instead of covering the letters, it just enhanced them.
We didn’t get back there until the next day, and all of those cans of spray paint were lost revenue. The graffiti was even more boldly visible because each of its letters was now outlined by the new coating. From them on, they invested in paint brushes and rollers, but lucked out on the paint itself. Local home-improvement big-box stores have gallons and gallons of paint unsaleable that has been mixed but didn’t come out the way the customer wanted or is returned to them or is never picked up by customers. We got them to donate it to us for our efforts to keep the neighborhood looking nice. The colors aren’t always ideal, and sometimes actually clash, but we do our own mixing to try and get as close as possible to workable use.
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Randy D 