Author Archives: Steve Lambert

Ad Nauseum comes out today

By Steve Lambert | Published: June 24, 2009

Carrie McLaren and Jason Torchinsky’s book, “Ad Nauseum: A Survivor’s Guide to American Consumer Culture” comes out today.  I have a copy and as a long time fan of Stay Free! magazine and, later, writer for the Stay Free! blog, I was still surprised at the great content I missed or forgot about.  This morning […]

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Stay Free! on WNYC

By Steve Lambert | Published: June 22, 2009

Jason and Carrie from Stay Free! were on Brian Lehrer today talking about Ad Nauseam. You can listen to it here:

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Why It Matters (from Ban Billboard Blight)

By Steve Lambert | Published: June 11, 2009

Dennis over at LA’s Ban Billboard Blight answers the question “Can’t you find something more important to be bothered about?” Fighting The Outdoor Advertising Invasion: A Trivial Pursuit? From time to time, someone will take offense at our activities on the grounds that advocating for protection of the visual environment from an onslaught of commercial […]

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Chicago Tribune: City losing war against sight blight

By Steve Lambert | Published: June 10, 2009

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 […]

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NYT: DoB Removes sign with 103 violation notices

By Steve Lambert | Published: June 1, 2009

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 […]

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NYT vs. SF Examiner on illegal storefront billboards

By Steve Lambert | Published: May 21, 2009

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 […]

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The Artvertiser

By Steve Lambert | Published: May 20, 2009

The Artvertiser is an urban, hand-held, augmented-reality project exploring the live substitution of advertising content for art. Software is trained to recognise individual advertisements, each of which become a virtual ‘canvas’ on which an artist can exhibit when viewed through the hand-held device. The project was initiated by Julian Oliver in February 2008 and is […]

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Paintballed Billboards

By Steve Lambert | Published: May 19, 2009

It’s a shame the billboards were blank… Prague’s street art collective EPOS 257 recently converted some blank billboards into abstract art with the help of a few paintball guns. They write: Shooting into the white surface of vacant billboards with a paintball gun – blank canvasses in an urban environment, a gesture expressing an opinion […]

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Subway HD Screens: Round 5

By Steve Lambert | Published: May 18, 2009

Stained Glass Post-Pixelators – Postronimos via Posterchild’s Blade Diary See also Subway HD Screens round 4

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The NY Street Art Takeover Map

By Steve Lambert | Published: May 18, 2009

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 […]

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Virgin America goes “street” – why?

By Steve Lambert | Published: May 17, 2009

Dear Virgin America, This really doesn’t make any sense at all to me. These stencil ads are spray-painted around my neighborhood in Brooklyn. They’re for a Virgin America campaign. I know this because I fly Virgin America. Of course I’m very reluctant to remotely endorse any commerical product on this site, I gotta tell the […]

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NYT: Reporting a Crime as a Business Opportunity

By Steve Lambert | Published: May 12, 2009

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 […]

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Assuming There’s a New York Times in 2040, I Hope It’s Not This One (from Technologizer)

By Steve Lambert | Published: May 11, 2009

Filing this one under “not creative” I just went to NYTimes.com, as I do multiple times a day. A split-second after I arrived at the homepage, it was covered up with a full-page ad overlay. That was irritating, but I’m willing to tolerate some annoyance in return for excellent free content. I found this particular […]

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Report From The Billboard Jungle in Los Angeles (illegalbillboards.ca)

By Steve Lambert | Published: May 9, 2009

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 […]

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Catching Up…

By Steve Lambert | Published: May 9, 2009

While I’ve been working these news items collected in my inbox… The Anti-Advertising Agency is listed as one of the 50 Best Business Ethics Blogs. And we weren’t even trying… Ad Threat Seen For Historic Areas – Preservationists in Chelsea and Greenwich Village fear a loophole in a City Council bill could bring a blight […]

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