Storefront Billboards: Advertising Opportunities or Illegal Eyesores?

Starting with the recent Public Ad Campaign targeting illegal street level advertising and followed by the Anti-Advertising Salon held last week, we’re noticing a more visible and organized movement to combat the commercial saturation of our physical and mental environments. This renewed effort couldn’t come at a better time, as the NY Times reports that while most segments of advertising are down, the increasing number of vacant retail spaces in urban areas has contributed to a rise in the amount of street level billboards going up.

The lagging economy has not only presented more opportunities to reach consumers, but is changing the attitudes of many in the industry both on the marketing and the brand side. With budget pricing – $500 for a three-month run at street level versus $50,000 for a billboard in the same location – these storefront advertisements are looking less like “poor man’s billboards” and more like fantastic deals.

But as Steve Lambert of the Anti-Advertising Agency reminds us in his letter to the NY Times, many of these spaces are still technically illegal. He writes:

Outdoor advertising is regulated by the Department of Buildings for several reasons; so billboards aren’t erected in dangerous places and ways, to regulate advertising to specific districts keeping the city livable, and to prevent persuasive messages from being placed anywhere and everywhere a corporation can buy space.

The Department of Buildings has strict regulations on size and these storefronts turned billboards are simply too large for nearly every commercial district in New York with the exception of Times Square.

NY Times: As Storefronts Become Vacant, Ads Arrive

The Anti-Advertising Agency: NYT: Reporting a Crime as a Business Opportunity