Congratulations to Christine Pelisek, whose L.A. Weekly article, “Billboards Gone Wild,” won this year’s L.A. Press Club Award for best hard news story in newspapers of more than 100,000 circulation. This article that focused on the woeful job the city has done controlling illegal billboards brought the issue to widespread public attention for the [...]
There’s a great op-ed in the Chicago Tribune by John McCarron. It starts:
“Chicago’s landscape is being swamped by a sea of unsightly billboards, advertising benches and illegal signs because of a toothless zoning ordinance that city officials admit cannot be enforced.”
Change is all around us, but in Chicago some things never change. Things like [...]
From The New York Times City Room blog:
For several years — in spite of 103 violation notices issued against it — a three-story, wrap-around billboard has blanketed the lower floors of the 19th-century Cushman Building, 174 Broadway, at Maiden Lane. On Thursday, clearly feeling that its enforcement efforts had been lost on OTR Media Group, which [...]
Why is the San Francisco Examiner doing a better job of reporting on illegal advertising than the New York Times?
Less than 10 days ago the Times published a story on billboards appearing on vacant storefronts. It almost reads like an ad itself:
Taking advantage of all the abandoned retail spaces in urban areas, marketers are [...]
via publicadcampaign.com:
View NYSAT Project Map 04-25-2009 in a larger map
This map shows illegal/unpermitted NPA City Outdoor locations located in Lower Manhattan. All the ads together cover approximately 29,450 square feet of our public environment.
On April 25th approximately 30 participants whitewashed nearly 120 street level billboards in broad daylight between the hours of 10:30am and 2:00pm.
At [...]
Just sent the following letter to the New York Times: Re: As Storefronts Become Vacant, Ads Arrive
Peter Sherman of advertising firm BBDO was quoted in your story, “All you have to do is walk out the door for lunch and notice the number of vacant storefronts — and they tend to be in prime areas, in [...]
Protesters picket a billboard executive’s house in this KCET documentary on Los Angeles’ new signs by-law; but the funny part is when Mayor Villaraigosa, in what is not his best moment, asks volunteers for help in investigating illegal billboards and is laughed at by a town hall crowd.
via illegalbillboards.ca and they have more coverage there.
Jordan Seiler of Illegalsigns.ca’s American comrade, PublicAdCampaign.com pulled together what many could argue as one of the largest organized guerilla art campaigns in regards to illegal billboards in recent memory (perhaps ever). Doing all North American cities proud, Seiler, along with over 40 participants, white-washed illegal billboards across the city followed quickly by artwork, messages, [...]
This video was sent on by someone who I’m not yet sure wants to remain anonymous. A simple and colorful change. Part of the massive coordinated art takeover of illegal advertising space this past weekend – which you will hear more about on this site soon…
Tough economic times call for inventive new ways to use the city, and outdoor advertising is never one to shy away from trying new things, even if they are illegal. Here’s one new form of visual intrusion trying to make its illegal mark on our city. How do [...]
This is like the mafia complaining that law enforcement hurts their business…
Sign companies claim billboard fines are crippling the ad industry BY Adam Lisberg DAILY NEWS CITY HALL BUREAU CHIEF
New York’s crackdown on oversized billboards is hurting the ad industry, as sign companies say inspectors are hitting them with huge fines for minor infractions.
“Here is an industry that [...]
According to the New York Times, “Poster Boy” was arrested on Saturday night.
While most other street or graffiti artists concentrate on adding their own imagery, illegally, to parts of the subway system, Poster Boy, a kind of anti-consumerist Zorro with a razor blade, a sense of humor and a talent for collage, has [...]
The city of San Francisco has been slowly working to enforce a 2002 city proposition which banned new billboards on private property. Of course, we all know city governments are notoriously cash-strapped. So it comes as no surprise that it was only in 2007 that the city had completed a survey of the [...]
