Outdoor Advertisements

A federal judge has allowed a citywide ban on new digital billboards and building-sized supergraphics to continue.

Planetizen's Nate Berg reports on advertisers in Los Angeles using steam cleaners to put corporate logos into the grimy sidewalk. Advertisers claim, "If anything, we've improved public property. We've cleaned up streets that were normally filthy."

The new public plazas in New York City have gained much popularity among locals -- and earned much money for the city. Officials have been renting out the spaces to advertisers, blurring the lines between public and private.

Crushed by the falling economy, failing retail spaces are renting their storefronts to make a some extra cash.

In response to an essay on restricting outdoor advertising in L.A., designer and lawyer Lawrence Barth argues that putting these decisions into the hands of groups -- whether city- or activist-led -- can lead to unintended consequences.

As part of the city's drawn-out battle with outdoor advertisers, Los Angeles officials have ordered building owners to remove "supergraphic" ads plastered to the sides of large buildings.

Outdoor signs, some of them quite large, have gone up around Los Angeles despite a 90-day moratorium on them. Tenants of buildings with such multistory "supergraphics" draped over their windows share their grief.