How We Feel About a Billboard Can Impact Our Driving

A small article recently appeared on the Atlantic Cities blog about outdoor advertising's effect on your cognitive processes as they alter your emotions ones way or the other. While the article points out that driving may be one task that is susceptible to "emotional distraction" I would argue that advertising's effects on our daily lives should not be looked at on a task by task basis, but on our public lives more generally. If I can be distracted from a simple task at hand by the content of a billboard, it would follow that the compounded effects become a distraction to life itself. 

VIA: Atlantic Cities

Research suggests that human emotion has an impact on cognition. If you’re in an emotional state – happy, angry, sad – that can influence how you perform complex tasks, how long it takes you to search for something or to react to a stimulus.

Consider the task of driving, which demands all of the above (multi-tasking, close attention, quick reactions). As it turns out, driving can be susceptible to "emotional distraction" too, and from a seemingly insignificant source: roadside billboards hawking sunny beach vacations or warning of lung cancer. More [HERE]

Ztohoven Hits the Prague Metro Hard in 2003

I have been toying around with the idea of starting an international takeover day as a way of globalizing the disparate groups all working on public media reform. It seems time to try to create something autonomous. Despite the above action being from 2003, Ztohoven is on my list of people to call upon when the time comes. This is a HUGE action and I couldn't be more impressed. The level of organization rivals NYSAT and other larger projects we have done. Wait till the end of the video for the kicker, an opening for the takeover with drinks! Cant do that in America. More Ztohoven [HERE]

Clear Channel PR Blitz For L.A. Digital Billboards

VIA: Ban Billboard Blight

Billboards displaying a key City Council member’s name and face. “Endorsements” from non-profit organizations. A poll purporting to show that the public wants digital signs. It’s all part of a big PR blitz by Clear Channel, which which has been lobbying hard for an ordinance allowing digital billboards even though an appeals court ruled in December that the permits issued for the company’s 84 digital signs should be revoked. More [HERE]

Partizaning - Participatory Urban Replanning

Shriya Malhotra just did a nice interview piece over at Partizaning, a wonderful urban activism site everyone should check out [HERE]
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Our cities are increasingly dominated by advertisements. Media literacy is taken for granted, and people seem unaware of the thousands of images they are absorbing each day, or of the impact they might have. In 2007, the mayor of the Brazilian city of São Paulo passed a ‘clean city law’, forbidding any form of commercial communication outdoors. And as a result, artists started to occupy walls with colors and shapes. But legalities aside, globally, people are retaliating against the capitalist domination of free space by ad-busting and hacking billboards to un-clutter public space.

For the complete interview [HERE]

Red Rock Media - Food Cart Ads

Walking the city yesterday I came upon a new form of advertising that runs on NYC food carts. According to Winston Jacobs over at Red Rock Media, these gems will cost you $1200.00 a month. I asked about the legality of these little monsters and was told that the city had no right to regulate them as they fall out of their jurisdiction. While I don't understand why that would be other than the fact that there is no fixed address to which one would attach a permit, I sent the image over to the sign enforcement unit with the hopes that they will be able to crack down on these eyesores. Unprompted, I was subsequently assured that Red Rock is owned and operated by Levi Eichenstien who has been in the business for 30 years and therefore would never do anything which is non compliant with NYC law. The funny thing is that 30 years in the business to me, makes it more likely that you would break the law as you have had time to properly adapt to the intricate media landscape and exploit the tiny loopholes which can be incredibly profitable.

Update: These signs are not under the DOB's jurisdiction as they are on the sidewalk and not affixed to a building. Time for some investigative work.

Ill keep my eyes open and I suggest you do the same. Send us pics of these offending food carts and we will see what we can do to get these ads off our city streets.

Red Rock Media Website [HERE]