I was reading an article about Billboards in Automobile Magazine. It was a fast facts type of article.
Since I can’t find a link to it online I’ll post the bullets here from the April 2010 issue, page 22.
- In 1889, the twenty-four-sheet billboard was introduced.
- Today, most billboards are one sheet of vinyl or polyethylene.
- The most common size is 14 by 48 feet.
- Six to eight advertisers can share a single digital billboard; the messages change every eight seconds or so.
- Four states ban billboards: Alaska, Hawaii, Maine and Vermont
I found in my research a couple websites that said Vermont experienced a 50% rise in tourism spending in the first two years it became billboard free. I thought that was REALLY interesting.
Courts across the nation have held that billboards may be prohibited or regulated principally because they gain their value from the proximity to taxpayer-funded roads and are, fundamentally, a use of the public right-of-way.
- The nonprofit organization Scenic America seeks to limit billboards
- The Outdoor Advertising Association of America is the billboard industry’s primary trade group.
Mail Pouch Tobacco Barn Billboard ~ I think these are a work of art!!
- Thousands of American barns have been painted to function as billboards, most often by Mail Pouch Tobacco – and about 4000 of those were first painted (and frequently retouched) by one man, Harley Warrick. Farmers were paid a token sum, but the real value was the free paint job. The sides of the barn that didn’t face the road would be painted a color of the farmer’s choice.
Mail Pouch Tobacco Barn Billboard ~ I think these are a work of art!!
- The 1965 Highway Beautification Act, championed by Lady Bird Johnson, was supposed to regulated billboards, but the Act is considered ineffectual.
- Although no definitive count exists, it’s estimated that nearly half a million billboards line federally funded highways alone.
- Times Square properties often sit empty, but owners hardly fret; billboards bring in the real money.
Times Square Billboards
According to www.oaaa.org …
- 5.5 billion spent on outdoor ads
- 62% billboards
- 15% street furniture
- 19% transit
- 4% alternative
I find personally that I notice them when they say something along the lines of “Coach outlet exit is in 1 mile” or something like that if I’m on my way somewhere, but other than that I don’t pay too much attention unless they’re completely ridiculous!
