Consumerist: Billboards

LA Has 4,000 Illegal Billboards, But City Looks On Helplessly

Chris Walters — Wed, 30 Apr 2008 10:18:32 EDT

In 2002, LA banned any new billboards from going up in the city. Since then, an estimated four thousand have been put up by advertising companies who have ignored the law, which obviously the city's billboard inspectors—"a tiny, and some say incredibly inept, group"—have never bothered to enforce.

These things aren't cheap or makeshift, either.

Shortly before Thanksgiving, a furtive crew of workers for L.A. Outdoor Advertising poured a cement foundation next to the Harbor Freeway and anchored a huge metal structure into the wet cement. A few days and roughly $100,000 later, the crew had erected L.A.'s latest illegal billboard atop an equally illegal 10-ton superstructure that can be removed only with a wrecker.
for its crime, L.A. Outdoor was "cited" and "ordered" to take down the illegal billboard "immediately." Five months later, that billboard still looms large. City Hall has caved to outdoor advertisers for so many years that L.A. Outdoor is touting the illegal billboard in a photo array on its Web site — a bleak reminder that billboards run amuck here, and their owners enjoy impunity.

City officials don't even have a list of all billboard owners, and seem incapable of creating one because that would require demanding information from the advertising companies, which they seem unwilling to do:

Clear Channel Outdoor, CBS Outdoor, Vista and others use the legal system as a delaying tactic, filing lawsuit upon lawsuit. City officials so badly fear the wrath of the billboard companies that they resisted giving L.A. Weekly basic, public facts about existing legal and illegal billboards. Plenty of U.S. cities have required the firms to hand over their inventory lists — a necessary step before activists, neighbors and inspectors can ID and dispute illegal billboards. Houston forced its billboard companies to hand over a list. So did Philadelphia and San Francisco. Florida''s Department of Transportation obtained its list — in 1972.
But in Los Angeles, the newspaper had to hire a First Amendment attorney to obtain simple information from quaking workers at the Los Angeles Department of Building and Safety, a taxpayer-funded agency that deals almost exclusively in public data. For months, department spokesman Robert Steinbach refused to talk, behaving as if he were protecting the national security.

"Billboards Gone Wild: 4,000 Illegal Billboards Choke L.A.'s Neighborhoods" [LA Weekly] (Thanks to Elliott!)
(Photo: r_neches)

King of Jews, King of Brews

consumerist.com — Thu, 13 Jul 2006 15:23:14 EDT

He walked on water, He cured the festering and the blind, He turned water into wine. But after a hard day on the cross, even the King of Kings needed a frosty cold one. But two thousand years later, theologians still wrestle with a truly massive question: what would Jesus drink?

Well, according to a billboard in downtown Houston, Jesus was a Bud man. Some rogue street artists painted a picture of Jesus in their home and then, under the cover of darkness, pasted it over one side of a Budweiser billboard. Jesus is probably replacing a hirsute man's man or a rugged cowboy, yet it's somehow none less manly with J.C. tipping a frothy glass of sweet manna to the man upstairs.

Jesus beer billboard causing quite a stir [Raw Story]

11 Things to Be Learned From Country Billboards

consumerist.com — Mon, 05 Jun 2006 12:44:56 EDT

His eyeballs on sabbatical from ocular saturation in the frenzied consumerism of modern day civilization, John over at American Copywriter decided to go on a long, relaxing drive through the barren heartland of America. To daydream while golden fields of wheat oscillated in the summer breeze! Where the only advertisements were the brand marks on the flanks of lowing cows!

Of course, it's not that easy to get away from consumerism. Even out in the middle of America's farm country, John saw enough billboards to put together a list of things he learned about advertising while driving to the lake:

1. On billboards, small town car dealers generally wear tuxedos and point at you or in the direction of their dealership. They really are very pointy people.
2. The less popular the restaurant chain, the more specific driving directions they tend put on their billboards. See, if the food isn't great, the directions need to be. Or so it seems.

3. Both churches and Adult-oriented merchants believe strongly in the power of outdoor advertising. Outdoor companies are laughing all the way to the bank

My favorite? Number 11. "My wife cannot pass an outlet of the Kum & Go chain of convenience stores without a small giggle."

11 things I learned about advertising while driving to the lake. [American Copywriter]

The Broader Side of Billboards

popkin — Thu, 01 Jun 2006 17:18:37 EDT

John January over at American Copywriter posted an amusing series of musings he had while driving across the Midwest and observing the billboards dotting the road. A choice selection:

1. On billboards, small town car dealers generally wear tuxedos and point at you or in the direction of their dealership. They really are very pointy people.

2. The less popular the restaurant chain, the more specific driving directions they tend put on their billboards.

3. Both churches and Adult-oriented merchants believe strongly in the power of outdoor advertising.

5. Some guy named Jesse Yokam will drill wells for you. Hey, if I need a well drilled, he's the only brand I know.

6. There really are lots and lots of McDonald's in the world.

8. Ratty signage and a full parking lot is a good indication that you've found a decent local restaurant.

The full monty at American Copywriter.

McDonald's Spicy Chicken Gets Hosed

popkin — Tue, 21 Mar 2006 15:09:28 EST

McDonald's pulled a "guerilla" stunt to promote its new spicy chicken sandwich. As shown, a boring billboard was sprayed down with by a fireman with a hose from a fire truck.

Pretty cool and very effective.

Clever. Iconoclastic.

A conversation-starter.

We're going to go buy a fire truck right now.[via]

Graffiti Artists Buff The Man's Billboards

popkin — Tue, 28 Feb 2006 16:44:45 EST

Buffing is when graffiti artist's work gets scrubbed over by The Man. Stieg point us to what happens when a street artist buffs The Man back, in this case, a billboard in the Red Hook borough of Brooklyn. The only tools required were a roller, paint and an a roller extension.

Note the buffed graffiti below the altered billboard.

The work is done by a member of Visual Resistance, a Brooklyn-based group of artists who don't like things and make art about 'em, frequently street-based.

More of their work at Visual Resistance's Flickrstream.